France has a record number of presidential hopefuls. Will any of them be able to hold back the far right?

About 30 people – nearly all men – have expressed an interest in taking on the far-right National Rally in next year’s ballot

At a Paris meeting hall this week, hundreds of leftwing voters braved a rainstorm to gather chanting: “Unity! Unity!”

They were celebrating the 90th anniversary of France’s Popular Front, a leftwing alliance that was formed in the 1930s amid fears that the far right could take power. But their concerns were more immediate.