Decisive negotiations in France before the deadline for withdrawal from the legislative elections expires

 In France, the names of candidates for the second round of parliamentary elections will be known by Tuesday evening, after dozens of candidates from the left and right withdrew in an attempt to prevent the far right from taking power despite the many divisions.

On Monday evening, 155 candidates from the left and President Emmanuel Macron's camp withdrew to qualify for the second round of the election race on Sunday, according to a preliminary count by Agence France-Presse.

Withdrawal is still possible until 4 pm GMT Tuesday in favor of a competitor from another political party, in the hope of preventing the victory of far-right candidates.

The aim of this series of withdrawals is to form a "republican front" to confront the National Rally party, led by 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, whose party won the first round of the election by a wide margin.

If Bardella becomes prime minister, it will be the first time since World War II that a far-right government will lead France.

Three weeks after the political earthquake Macron caused by announcing the dissolution of the National Assembly, the French voted massively on Sunday in the first round of elections, the results of which are being closely watched abroad.

The National Rally (far right) and its allies were at the top of the first round results with 33.14% of the votes (10.6 million votes). There were 39 deputies from this party in the first round.

This put it ahead of the New Popular Front, which includes the left (27.99 percent), while Macron's camp was a distant third (20.8 percent).

The far right demanded that the French give it an absolute majority in the second round. Their young president said that the second round would be "one of the most decisive in the entire history of the Fifth French Republic," founded in 1958.

For her part, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said, "We need an absolute majority." Le Pen led the National Rally deputy bloc in the French parliament, just as he was disappointed in the first round in the north.

In 1972, her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founded the National Front with two former members of the Nazi SS, which was renamed the National Rally in 2018.

Le Pen, who focused his speech on immigration and Jews, was condemned several times for his transgressions, especially after he described the gas chambers as "just a detail of history."

Given the confusion and ambiguity on all fronts, there are several scenarios on the table.

With the decline of the possibility of the "Republican Front", traditionally formed in the past, to confront the National Rally in France, it has become possible that the party of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen will obtain a strong relative majority or even an absolute majority next Sunday.

However, the scenario of a dysfunctional National Assembly without the possibility of forming majority alliances between the three main blocs remains present, a scenario that would plunge France into the unknown.

In any case, Macron lost his bet on dissolving the National Assembly after the defeat of his bloc in the European elections on June 9.

It is possible that the legislative elections will lead to an unprecedented coexistence between a pro-European Union president and a government hostile to the European Union, which could lead to disagreements over the powers of the two heads of the executive branch, especially in matters of diplomacy and defense.

In this context, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal warned that "the extreme right is at the gates of power" and called for "preventing the National Rally from obtaining an absolute majority".

Likewise, the leftist member of the European Parliament, Raphael Glucksmann, confirmed that "we have seven days to avoid a catastrophe in France" and called for the withdrawal of all candidates who came in third.

But his ally, the Proud France party, believes that this rule will only be applied in the districts where the National Rally candidates came first, according to the leader of the radical left bloc, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

As for the presidential camp, the line is still unclear. At a cabinet meeting on Monday, Macron did not give clear instructions, according to several ministerial sources.

However, one of the participants in the meeting said that the president stressed the need "not to vote for the extreme right," recalling that the left supported him twice to become president, in 2017 and in 2022.

The French president did not make any public statements on Monday.

Many of the candidates of his camp announced that they would remain in the second round. However, most of the withdrawing candidates are reluctant to support the candidates of proud France, especially as Mélenchon's party is accused of anti-Semitism. A senior union official described him as "a useful idiot for all those who do not want to step down".

Many capitals are watching the political crisis in France.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that "Germany and France bear a special responsibility for a common Europe... and no one can remain indifferent."

For his part, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk considered that the results of the first round of these elections reflect a "dangerous trend" that France and Europe have taken.

Moscow announced that it was "closely following the elections in France", while Washington confirmed that it "intends to continue its close cooperation with the French government on all foreign policy priorities".

Others praised the result achieved by the French far right, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who argued that "demonizing" the far right was no longer useful.