Greens candidate quits Provence run-off, complicating Le Pen bid

FILE PHOTO: France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen delivers a speech for the next year's municipal elections in an end-summer annual address to partisans in Frejus, France September 15, 2019. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - The Greens candidate on Monday pulled out of a run-off election in southeastern France set for next Sunday, making it harder for far-right leader Marine Le Pen's party to beat the centre-right and take control of the region.

Le Pen is hoping to win the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region in the elections for the regional parliament and president, gaining a platform and political momentum for her planned bid for the French presidency in the 2022 election.