French Green Party candidate Yannick Jadot announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the presidential race and would throw his support behind Socialist party candidate Benoît Hamon in the April-May elections.

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“I am withdrawing as a candidate in the presidential election to take part in a great adventure,” he said on France 2 television, referring to a “marvellous” agreement that had been reached with the Socialists.

Opinion polls have shown Jadot picking up only a very small percentage of votes in the election, between 1 and 2 percent.

Hamon himself, a leftwinger who was chosen at a Socialist-led primary in January, is trailing in fourth place in opinion polls, which would exclude him from the run-off vote on May 7.

Hamon has sought to persuade hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon to pull out as candidate and join forces with him to give the Left a chance of retaining power, but Melenchon has so far refused to do so.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

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