UPDATE: What is happening in France today?
Left candidates who came in 3rd are dropping out of the runoffs to block the far-right.
*Many* Macronists, including incumbents, are doing the same when they came in third. But... many said they won't. (I'd say about half/half right now? Deadline tmrw.)
THE sentence of the day: A Macronist incumbent in the Marseille region came in 3rd in her seat. She just dropped out to support the left. She said, about why she's maneuvering to block the far-right:
"Defeats happen, but you can never recover from dishonor."
yeah it's weird the coverage here, but what I read is that both parties immediately came out and suggested their third place finishes will drop
yet I see no coverage of that
Where did you read that? I saw very clear & early messages from the parties in NFP and more ambiguous & varied messages from Ensemble that included "depends if LFI". That may have changed since last night but even if so it wasn't "immediately".
Edouard Phillippe, Macron’s 1st PM, just said:
Where Macronists are not in runoff, people should vote for a candidate of Left bloc, *if* that candidate is center-left (so PS+Green, not LFI).
Said his candidates shld drop out if in 3rd place, behind such center-left candidates.
Yes, LFI is one of the members of the NFP that clearly pledged to desist when necessary to prevent RN winning - I don't remember it from last night but saw reference to Melenchon saying so. It's Ensemble that had some ambiguous "desist... Unless it benefits LFI, then depends" messages
(Ensemble = Macron, when you said "both parties" I assumed you meant "Ensemble & NFP" although NFP is actually several parties & they announced separately, so maybe you actually meant something else)
The left meeting the center halfway and the center complaining that they aren't meeting 3/4ths of the way and refusing to play.
Tale as old as fucking time.
