Last Sunday, in the first round, only 76 of the 577 seats for deputies in the National Assembly were defined, so the battle is posed for the absolute majority (at least 289), which would allow its holder to have a prime minister from its ranks.

The victories in the European elections of June 9, which led to the dissolution by President Emmanuel Macron of the National Assembly, and in the first round of the legislative elections – with 33 percent of the votes – gives the label of favorite for the runoff to the party identified with the extreme right National Rally (RN).

The question is whether the suffrages will be enough for the force led by Marine Le Pen to impose with Jordan Bardella as Prime Minister an uncomfortable political cohabitation with the head of State, with few precedents since the establishment of the Fifth Republic (1958).

A week ago the answer, backed by the polls, was yes, but only 24 hours before the opening of the polls in 501 constituencies, the projections seem to move the extreme right away from co-government, although the truth will not be known until 20:00, local time, on Sunday.

What changed in so few days, well, it could be said that a lot changed on Tuesday, the deadline for the registration of candidacies, when around 220 aspiring candidates chose to withdraw from the race to clear the way for rivals better positioned to defeat the RN representative.

The left-wing bloc New People’s Front, integrated by socialists, France Insoumise, ecologists and communists, had about 130 withdrawals and the pro-government Juntos (Together), headed by the ruling Rennaissance, about 80.

In this way, a sort of republican camp emerged on French soil to try to stop the extreme right with its program denounced for its anti-immigrant and anti-European stances, although an important part of the French public sees the RN as a solution to problems ranging from the loss of purchasing power to insecurity.

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