section_path: Results/Voting instructions and withdrawals/Before the first round
section_name: Before the first round
paragraph_text: Before the first round
  
  In an interview with Cyril Hanouna on Europe 1 on 24 June, Gender Equality Minister Aurore Bergé, like Emmanuel Macron, declined to specify second-round voting instructions between either the New Popular Front (NFP) and National Rally (RN) while also implying that any such discussions would not take place until after the first round. Both of Renaissance 's alliance partners' leaders, François Bayrou of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and Édouard Philippe of Horizons, also refused to address the issue, with allies of Macron reportedly divided on this question.
  
  On the afternoon of 25 June, Macron and the leaders of Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons, the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), the Radical Party, and several other members of his coterie met to discuss the matter, with a general consensus emerging among participants to call to block the RN and La France Insoumise (LFI) candidates in the second round and potentially withdraw on a case-by-case basis, though no decision was reached by the end of the meeting. Interviewed on the evening of 26 June, Bayrou remarked, "we will vote for neither a National Rally nor LFI candidate... why have the political forces, which I consider to be republicans, gone and settled themselves under the yoke of a very radical, brutal, violent far-left?" Philippe then called on all third-placed Horizons candidates who advanced to give up their candidacy in the second round.
  
  Marine Tondelier, leader of The Ecologists, announced in an interview the same day that candidates from her party would withdraw if they were eligible to advance to the second round but finished in third place, a view also shared by Raphaël Glucksmann of Place Publique. LFI MEP Manon Aubry stated that the decisions of LFI candidates in three-way races would be made on a case-by-case basis. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure, along with Glucksmann, Tondelier, and two government ministers (Clément Beaune and Agnès Pannier-Runacher) signed onto an open letter published in Le Monde on 25 June pushing for all parties facing to reach an agreement to withdraw candidates in order to block the RN, though no LFI representatives signed onto the letter. On 26 June, Jean-Luc Mélenchon indicated that LFI would issue voting instructions after the first round and told his supporters to not vote for the RN. In a press release on 27 June, the French Communist Party (PCF) confirmed that it would instruct its voters to support a "republican candidate" against the RN in the second round, and that its candidates would withdraw if they advanced to the second round but finished third in the first.
  
  While he was opposed to the prospect of an alliance between The Republicans (LR) and the National Rally, LR vice president François-Xavier Bellamy declared that he would support candidates of the RN against those of the NFP in the second round, even in the case that they were not LFI candidates. In an interview on 26 June, Julien Aubert declared that he would vote for any candidate against the RN in most cases, but would vote for them if faced with a LFI candidate.
  
  In an interview with Cyril Hanouna on Europe 1 on 24 June, Gender Equality Minister Aurore Bergé, like Emmanuel Macron, declined to specify second-round voting instructions between either the New Popular Front (NFP) and National Rally (RN) while also implying that any such discussions would not take place until after the first round. Both of Renaissance 's alliance partners' leaders, François Bayrou of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and Édouard Philippe of Horizons, also refused to address the issue, with allies of Macron reportedly divided on this question.
  
  On the afternoon of 25 June, Macron and the leaders of Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons, the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), the Radical Party, and several other members of his coterie met to discuss the matter, with a general consensus emerging among participants to call to block the RN and La France Insoumise (LFI) candidates in the second round and potentially withdraw on a case-by-case basis, though no decision was reached by the end of the meeting. Interviewed on the evening of 26 June, Bayrou remarked, "we will vote for neither a National Rally nor LFI candidate... why have the political forces, which I consider to be republicans, gone and settled themselves under the yoke of a very radical, brutal, violent far-left?" Philippe then called on all third-placed Horizons candidates who advanced to give up their candidacy in the second round.
  
  Marine Tondelier, leader of The Ecologists, announced in an interview the same day that candidates from her party would withdraw if they were eligible to advance to the second round but finished in third place, a view also shared by Raphaël Glucksmann of Place Publique. LFI MEP Manon Aubry stated that the decisions of LFI candidates in three-way races would be made on a case-by-case basis. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure, along with Glucksmann, Tondelier, and two government ministers (Clément Beaune and Agnès Pannier-Runacher) signed onto an open letter published in Le Monde on 25 June pushing for all parties facing to reach an agreement to withdraw candidates in order to block the RN, though no LFI representatives signed onto the letter. On 26 June, Jean-Luc Mélenchon indicated that LFI would issue voting instructions after the first round and told his supporters to not vote for the RN. In a press release on 27 June, the French Communist Party (PCF) confirmed that it would instruct its voters to support a "republican candidate" against the RN in the second round, and that its candidates would withdraw if they advanced to the second round but finished third in the first.
  
  While he was opposed to the prospect of an alliance between The Republicans (LR) and the National Rally, LR vice president François-Xavier Bellamy declared that he would support candidates of the RN against those of the NFP in the second round, even in the case that they were not LFI candidates. In an interview on 26 June, Julien Aubert declared that he would vote for any candidate against the RN in most cases, but would vote for them if faced with a LFI candidate.
  
  In an interview with Cyril Hanouna on Europe 1 on 24 June, Gender Equality Minister Aurore Bergé, like Emmanuel Macron, declined to specify second-round voting instructions between either the New Popular Front (NFP) and National Rally (RN) while also implying that any such discussions would not take place until after the first round. Both of Renaissance 's alliance partners' leaders, François Bayrou of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and Édouard Philippe of Horizons, also refused to address the issue, with allies of Macron reportedly divided on this question.
  
  On the afternoon of 25 June, Macron and the leaders of Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons, the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), the Radical Party, and several other members of his coterie met to discuss the matter, with a general consensus emerging among participants to call to block the RN and La France Insoumise (LFI) candidates in the second round and potentially withdraw on a case-by-case basis, though no decision was reached by the end of the meeting. Interviewed on the evening of 26 June, Bayrou remarked, "we will vote for neither a National Rally nor LFI candidate... why have the political forces, which I consider to be republicans, gone and settled themselves under the yoke of a very radical, brutal, violent far-left?" Philippe then called on all third-placed Horizons candidates who advanced to give up their candidacy in the second round.
  
  Marine Tondelier, leader of The Ecologists, announced in an interview the same day that candidates from her party would withdraw if they were eligible to advance to the second round but finished in third place, a view also shared by Raphaël Glucksmann of Place Publique. LFI MEP Manon Aubry stated that the decisions of LFI candidates in three-way races would be made on a case-by-case basis. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure, along with Glucksmann, Tondelier, and two government ministers (Clément Beaune and Agnès Pannier-Runacher) signed onto an open letter published in Le Monde on 25 June pushing for all parties facing to reach an agreement to withdraw candidates in order to block the RN, though no LFI representatives signed onto the letter. On 26 June, Jean-Luc Mélenchon indicated that LFI would issue voting instructions after the first round and told his supporters to not vote for the RN. In a press release on 27 June, the French Communist Party (PCF) confirmed that it would instruct its voters to support a "republican candidate" against the RN in the second round, and that its candidates would withdraw if they advanced to the second round but finished third in the first.
  
  While he was opposed to the prospect of an alliance between The Republicans (LR) and the National Rally, LR vice president François-Xavier Bellamy declared that he would support candidates of the RN against those of the NFP in the second round, even in the case that they were not LFI candidates. In an interview on 26 June, Julien Aubert declared that he would vote for any candidate against the RN in most cases, but would vote for them if faced with a LFI candidate.