Far-right candidate withdraws from French snap polls over photo in Nazi garb

By Nur Asena Erturk

A far-right candidate in France’s snap parliamentary elections quit the race after the emergence of a photo of her wearing Nazi garb, local media said Monday.

The photo of Ludivine Daoudi, National Rally (RN) candidate in the northern town of Caen, resurfaced years after it was taken, broadcaster France Bleu reported. In it, Daoudi is wearing a black Nazi officer’s hat with the swastika symbol on it.

Emma Fourreau, Daoudi’s rival from the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, shared it on social media on Monday, a source said.

Philippe Chapron, a National Rally member in the department of Calvados (which includes Caen), said that Daoudi did not deny it was her in the photo, saying she wore the hat at an “arms exchange” event.

Chapron called the photo “tasteless” and announced Daoudi’s withdrawal from the race.

Daoudi got 19.95% of the votes in the Caen-West constituency in the first round on Sunday.

With Daoudi’s withdrawal, two rivals must now contend in the second round: right-wing Caen Mayor Joel Bruneau, who already ranked first with 43.11%, and left-wing Emma Fourreau, behind him with 34.82%.

In the first round, nationwide, the National Rally got 29.5% of the vote by itself – a rate that rises to over 33% when combined with its allies – according to official results.

The party alone got more than 9.37 million votes, giving it 37 seats in parliament.

The left-wing New Popular Front alliance got 27.99% (over 8.9 million votes) and came in second with 32 seats.

The centrist Together for the Republic alliance backed by President Emmanuel Macron ranked third with slightly over 20.04% (over 6.4 million votes), securing only two seats.

- Political calculations for round 2

Some candidates managed to be elected in the first round, but as the country gears up for round two on Sunday, political parties have started working on various solutions, mostly to counter the victorious National Rally.

Many candidates from the left-wing alliance and Macron’s centrist bloc said they would step down in round two to give voters a stark choice: either the National Rally candidate or another party.

The two blocs are hoping voters choose against the National Rally.

Macron on June 9 dissolved parliament and announced early elections after the National Rally swept more than 31% of the vote in European Parliament elections, defeating his centrist bloc.