Candidates race into France’s snap legislative poll but one convicted for spousal assault withdraws

PARIS (AP) — Candidates are racing into snap parliamentary elections that are redrawing France’s political landscape, but a left-wing alliance newly formed to counter the surge of the far right lost a prospective lawmaker previously convicted for spousal assault. Adrien Quatennens on Sunday announced the withdrawal of his candidacy that had opened cracks in the fledgling New Popular Front. The uneasy coalition of left-wing parties from is campaigning together against the prospect that the two-round June 30 and July 7 election could produce France’s first far-right government since the Nazi occupation. Despite being handed a suspended four-month jail term in 2022 for spousal assault, Quatennens was initially included among the left-wing candidates.