PARIS (Reuters) – France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party is expected to fall short of an absolute majority in the second round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, an opinion poll showed on Thursday.
It was the second survey in as many days to show Marine Le Pen’s RN winning more seats than any other party – but also missing the 289 threshold required for an absolute majority.
This suggested that a “republican front,” by which more than 200 candidates across the political spectrum pulled out of three-way second rounds to clear the path for whoever was best placed to defeat the RN runner in their district, seemed to be working.
The IFOP poll for LCI and Le Figaro showed the RN winning 210 to 240 seats, down from 240-270 before the withdrawals.
The leftist New Popular Front was seen in second place, with 170 to 200 seats, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Together group with 95 to 125 seats. The conservative Republicans were forecast to win 25 to 45 seats.
On Wednesday, a Harris Interactive poll forecast 190 to 220 seats for the RN.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq, Tassilo Hummel and Ingrid Melander; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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