PARIS (Reuters). – The majority of registered French far-left activists Jean-Luc Melenchon won’t vote or will leave blank their ballot papers in the Presidential Runoff between incumbent Emmanuel Macron, far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. This was revealed by an internal consultation.

Macron was a centrist pro-European Union politician who won the 2017 presidency easily after defeating Le Pen in the runoff. This helped keep Le Pen’s far right party out of power.

After Sunday’s initial vote, Macron will face a more difficult challenge. The two sides want to attract those who backed Melenchon (who came third in the first round on April 10 with around 22%).

Melenchon called for his supporters to not vote Le Pen but he did not advocate Macron. He said that his party would have a public consultation in order to guide all those who supported him.

More than 66% of the 215,000 participants in Sunday’s poll said that they would vote against Macron, abstain or leave blank their ballot papers. A little over 33% of those surveyed said they would vote Macron. Only 33% of respondents said they would vote for Le Pen.

Melenchon’s campaign team stated on its website that “The results do not order votes for anyone… everybody will draw their conclusions from this and vote how they feel comfortable.”

The electorate is fragmented and undecided. It will be likely that the winner of the election is the one who can convince the voters to vote for the alternative.

The far right has been kept out of power by a “republicanfront” consisting of supporters of mainstream candidates from all political stripes for many decades.

Macron’s sometimes aggressive style and policies to the right, which have upended many voters, cannot be relied upon for that support.

A IPSOS-Sopra-Steria poll conducted Saturday found that roughly 33% would support Macron and 16% supported Le Pen. However, more than half of those questioned refused to share their views.