French PM says ‘no place for violence and intimidation’ after candidate attacked putting up election posters – as it happened | Europe

• The French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said some 30,000 police will be deployed across France late on Sunday following the second round of elections to ensure there is no trouble.

• Late last night, the French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, said candidate Prisca Thevenot – the government spokesperson – and members of her campaign team were attacked by four individuals while putting up election posters. “Violence and intimidation have no place in our democracy,” he said.

• Today, Thevenot thanked law enforcement and said “violence is never the answer.”

• The French prosecutor’s office said it opened an investigation into an assault with a weapon against a public official.

• A new poll from Ifop shows that 47% of voters believe the far right National Rally will win an absolute majority of seats in Sunday’s election.

• The far right National Rally’s Marine Le Pen argued her party can still win an absolute majority. “I think there is still the capacity to have an absolute majority with the electorate turning out in a final effort to get what they want,” she said.

• Raphaël Glucksmann, who led the French Socialist-Place Publique list in the European elections, has cautioned against a belief that “we have saved things” already and called for urgency to defeat the far right.

• The Ecologists’ Marine Tondelier has criticised the far right National Rally’s Jordan Bardella, arguing that his party is allowing some candidates who made racist, anti-Semitic and misogynistic comments to remain on the ballot.

At a market in Meyzieu, a small commune on the outskirts of Lyon, Kheira Vermorel eyed a box filled with potatoes, wondering if the sizeable spuds would be enough to soothe tensions at home.

For weeks – specifically since France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, plunged the country into shock snap elections – she and her husband had been at odds. “It’s been really hard,” she said. “I’m worried it might lead to a divorce.”

At the heart of their weeks-long dispute was the forthcoming ballot. Last election Vermorel, who moved to France from Algeria 35 years ago, voted for Macron. This time, however, she was convinced that it was time to give the political class a shake by casting her vote for the far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally (RN).

“Politicians don’t show up, they talk, they always promise things but nothing happens,” said the 54-year-old. She waved off the widespread concerns about the party’s policies that target Muslims, citing how she, a practising Muslim, had learned to balance her fate with France’s secularism.

Her French husband, however, was vehemently opposed to the party’s hardline stance on immigrants. “He tells me: ‘If migrants are here, it’s because they don’t have any other choice,’” she said, citing those who live on the streets. “And he says if they’re in that situation, it’s because they’ve lost everything.”

Read the full story here.

A new poll from Ifop shows that 47% of voters believe the far right National Rally will win an absolute majority of seats in Sunday’s election.

15% said “certainly” and 32% said “probably”.

Late last night, the French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, said candidate Prisca Thevenot – the government spokesperson – and members of her campaign team were attacked by four individuals while putting up election posters.

“Violence and intimidation have no place in our democracy,” he said. “They have no place in our Republic,” he added, expressing his solidarity with the candidate and her team.

Jordan Bardella, leader of the far right National Rally, expressed support for Thevenot and for Marie Dauchy, a far right candidate who yesterday said she was attacked and suspending her campaign.

Raphaël Glucksmann, who led the French Socialist-Place Publique list in the European elections, has cautioned against a belief that “we have saved things” already.

Speaking on France Inter, Glucksmann said there’s “extreme urgency” to prevent a victory of the far right this Sunday and that withdrawals do not automatically mean a defeat for the National Rally.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog, where we will be focusing today on the latest in the French election campaign.

Send your comments to [email protected].