The pact between the leader of Les Republicains (LR) in Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur (Paca), ruled from regional capital Marseille, and President Macron’s En Marche (Onward) is “aimed at blocking a takeover of the regional government” by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, The Times reports. But Republicans have “clashed bitterly” over the deal, which has pushed their party to “the brink of meltdown”, the paper continues. While the pact is widely viewed as reflecting “the weakness of the president’s party”, conservative leaders fear that Macron is staging a “takeover” of the LR - the party of political heavyweights including Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.