Go vote, parties tell French voters ahead of cliffhanger runoff
Parties across spectrum implore voters to turn out en masse
Polls see far right victory but short of absolute majority
Le Pen: Foes' tactics aim to demotivate RN voters, won't work
Adds opinion polls in paragraph 8
By Dominique Vidalon and Ingrid Melander
PARIS, July 5 (Reuters) -Parties across the political spectrum urged French voters to vote massively on Sunday to tilt the outcome either way as opinion polls forecast the far-right would be the largest party but fall short of an absolute majority.
Marine Le Pen's eurosceptic, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) topped the parliamentary election's first round with a third of the vote, opening the prospect of the far right leading a French government for the first time since World War Two.
But after a subsequent series of tactical withdrawals of candidacies from mainstream parties aimed at boosting whoever is best placed to beat the far right, several surveys have projected a drop in the number of seats the RN could win, making an absolute majority even harder to reach.
Le Pen, who has said the "republican front" of mainstream parties shows disdain for her voters, urged them to prove pollsters wrong in the decisive run-off election on Sunday.
"I get the impression that all this is designed to demotivate our voters. Fortunately, I know them and I know they're highly motivated, so I tell them, really do go and vote," Le Pen told Europe 1 radio and CNews TV.
"We need everybody," she said on the last official day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's vote.
An OpinionWay poll for French business daily Les Echos projected the RN winning 205-230 seats, ahead of the leftwing New Popular Front (NFP) with 145-175 seats, and President Emmanuel Macron's centrist bloc with 130-162 seats.
AnIpsos poll forecast the RN would get 175-205 seats andIfop pollsters gave an 170-210 estimate.
For a ruling majority, 289 seats are needed in the National Assembly.
But European Parliament lawmaker Raphael Glucksmann, one of the political leaders of the NFP, warned no one should take those polls for granted.
"Commentators and politicians already speak as if the RN had no absolute majority and congratulate themselves on their efforts to block it ... I think that could demobilise voters, and I am worried. There is a tidal wave in favour of the National Rally," he told RTL radio.
'THE BIG UNKNOWN'
Much uncertainty remains, including whether voters will go along with these efforts to block the RN, pollsters say.
"The big unknown is the size of the republican front ... will a leftwing voter cast a ballot for a right-wing candidate or a Macron camp candidate?" IFOP pollster Jerome Fourquet said on RMC radio. So much was up in the air that a leftwing alliance outpacing the RN could not be entirely ruled out in the end, he said.
If the vote is in line with the latest surveys, the election will deliver a hung parliament. Options would include attempting to pull together a coalition; a party running a minority government; and naming a caretaker government that would aim to strike deals on each legislative proposal.
Any of those scenarios would likely spell political uncertainty and obstruct policy-making, stunting economic reform efforts.
As the tense campaign was wrapping up, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that at least 51 candidates and their supporters had been physically harmed, quite a few of them while putting up campaign posters.
"Outbreaks of violence are to be feared on Sunday," he told BFM TV, after he decided to step up the police presence and ban a planned far-left demonstration at the National Assembly on voting day.
Some voters in France looked with envy at the decisiveness of Thursday's election in Britain in which the Labour Party surged to a landslide victory, ending 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government.
"The British should count themselves lucky," lawyer Natacha Lesellier said in Paris.
Additional reporting by Yiming Woo; writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Tassilo Hummel, Sonali Paul and Mark Heinrich
Últimas notícias
Isenção de Responsabilidade: As entidades do XM Group proporcionam serviço de apenas-execução e acesso à nossa plataforma online de negociação, permitindo a visualização e/ou uso do conteúdo disponível no website ou através deste, o que não se destina a alterar ou a expandir o supracitado. Tal acesso e uso estão sempre sujeitos a: (i) Termos e Condições; (ii) Avisos de Risco; e (iii) Termos de Responsabilidade. Este, é desta forma, fornecido como informação generalizada. Particularmente, por favor esteja ciente que os conteúdos da nossa plataforma online de negociação não constituem solicitação ou oferta para iniciar qualquer transação nos mercados financeiros. Negociar em qualquer mercado financeiro envolve um nível de risco significativo de perda do capital.
Todo o material publicado na nossa plataforma de negociação online tem apenas objetivos educacionais/informativos e não contém — e não deve ser considerado conter — conselhos e recomendações financeiras, de negociação ou fiscalidade de investimentos, registo de preços de negociação, oferta e solicitação de transação em qualquer instrumento financeiro ou promoção financeira não solicitada direcionadas a si.
Qual conteúdo obtido por uma terceira parte, assim como o conteúdo preparado pela XM, tais como, opiniões, pesquisa, análises, preços, outra informação ou links para websites de terceiras partes contidos neste website são prestados "no estado em que se encontram", como um comentário de mercado generalizado e não constitui conselho de investimento. Na medida em que qualquer conteúdo é construído como pesquisa de investimento, deve considerar e aceitar que este não tem como objetivo e nem foi preparado de acordo com os requisitos legais concebidos para promover a independência da pesquisa de investimento, desta forma, deve ser considerado material de marketing sob as leis e regulações relevantes. Por favor, certifique-se que leu e compreendeu a nossa Notificação sobre Pesquisa de Investimento não-independente e o Aviso de Risco, relativos à informação supracitada, os quais podem ser acedidos aqui.
