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Candidates in pivotal French legislative elections make final push in torrid campaign ahead of vote

Candidates in France’s pivotal and polarizing legislative elections were making their last pushes on Friday for the second and decisive round of voting after a three-week campaign marked by hate speech, verbal abuse and physical attacks. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said his ministry has registered 51 verbal and physical attacks against candidates, their deputies or their supporters during campaigning for the high-stakes parliamentary elections that end with the second round of voting on Sunday. Several attacks were “extremely serious,” Darmanin said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM on Friday.

Quick Read

  • Candidates in France’s pivotal legislative elections made their final campaign efforts ahead of the decisive second round of voting, following a three-week campaign marred by hate speech, verbal abuse, and physical attacks.
  • French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported 51 verbal and physical attacks against candidates and their supporters, with 30 suspects arrested.
  • Tensions are high as left-wing and moderate groups aim to prevent the anti-immigration National Rally from winning an absolute legislative majority.
  • The National Rally, led by Jordan Bardella, received the most votes in the first round on June 30 but fell short of an overall victory.
  • Darmanin announced that 30,000 police officers, including 5,000 in Paris, will be deployed on Sunday to ensure the election results are respected.
  • Concerns have risen over the increase in racist, xenophobic, and antisemitic language in public due to the National Rally’s surge in voter support.
  • Incidents of hate speech and physical violence against candidates were reported during the campaign, including an attack on government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot and her team.
  • The legislative election was called by President Emmanuel Macron on June 9 after his centrist Ensemble alliance suffered a defeat in the European Parliament elections.

The Associated Press has the story:

Candidates in pivotal French legislative elections make final push in torrid campaign ahead of vote

Newslooks- PARIS (AP) —

Candidates in France’s pivotal and polarizing legislative elections were making their last pushes on Friday for the second and decisive round of voting after a three-week campaign marked by hate speech, verbal abuse and physical attacks.

FILE – French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin answers reporters before a meeting of EU’s interior ministers, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022 in Lille, northern France. The French government on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, forged ahead with efforts to reshape Islam in France and rid it of extremism, introducing a new body made up of clergy and laymen — and women — to help lead the largest Muslim community in western Europe. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said his ministry has registered 51 verbal and physical attacks against candidates, their deputies or their supporters during campaigning for the high-stakes parliamentary elections that end with the second round of voting on Sunday. Several attacks were “extremely serious,” Darmanin said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM on Friday.

At least 30 suspects “with extremely varied backgrounds” have been arrested, the interior minister said, adding that candidates and their supporters across France’s political spectrum have been targets of verbal and physical abuse.

“National Rally’s candidates were violently attacked … (as were) left-wing candidates,” Darmanin said.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, center left, arrives at the National Rally party headquarters, Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Paris. The National Rally secured the most votes in the first round of the early legislative elections on June 30 but not enough to claim an overall victory that would allow the formation of France’s first far-right government since World War II. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Tensions are high as left-wing and moderate groups try to prevent the anti-immigration, nationalist National Rally from winning an absolute legislative majority, which would be a first and a major historical shift for France.

The National Rally, under party president Jordan Bardella, secured the most votes in the first round of the legislative elections on June 30 but not enough to claim an overall victory that would allow the formation of France’s first far-right government since World War II.

Darmanin said 30,000 police officers will be deployed on Sunday, including 5,000 in the Paris region, to ensure that the results of the election “are respected whatever they may be.” He said gatherings outside of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, have been banned.

FILE – Acting head of the National Rally party Jordan Bardella applauds during a National Rally event in Frejus, France, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. At just 28 years old, Jordan Bardella has led the French far right to a landslide victory in the European Parliament election in June. After voters propelled Marine Le Pen’s National Rally to a strong lead in the first round of national legislative elections on Sunday, Bardella has turned to rallying supporters to grant Marine Le Pen’s party an absolute majority in the decisive round of voting on July 7 and make him the prime minister of France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

A group called the Antifascist Action Paris-Suburbs called for a protest outside the National Assembly on Sunday night as results come in.

Many people have voiced concerns that the surge in voter support for the anti-immigrant National Rally has made people feel more comfortable using racist, xenophobic and antisemitic language in public.

The government agency tallying racist acts did not have recent data since the brief campaign began.

Candidates have complained of both hate speech and physical violence during the campaign.

French government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot leaves the weekly cabinet meeting, Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called the snap election on June 9 after a stinging defeat at the hands of the National Rally in French voting for the European Parliament. The unpopular president gambled that the far right would not repeat that success when France’s own fate was in the balance. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, who is a candidate for the centrist Ensemble alliance led by President Emmanuel Macron, said she and a deputy and a party activist were putting up election posters in Meudon near Paris on Wednesday night when a group attacked them. Thevenot’s deputy and the party activist were taken to a hospital.

President Emmanuel Macron of France speaks during the opening plenary session at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, in Obbürgen, Switzerland, Saturday June 15, 2024. Switzerland is hosting scores of world leaders this weekend to try to map out the first steps toward peace in Ukraine. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone via AP)

Macron called the surprise legislative election on June 9 after his alliance suffered a punishing defeat at the hands of the National Rally in French voting for the European Parliament, plunging the country into a sudden legislative campaign.

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