Seen it all before over here in the UK. They did it to Nigel Farage of UKIP in the UK General election and Marine Le Pen's Front national in the French election. The "outsider" can't be allowed to win under any circumstances. In France the socialists pulled their candidates out of various regions and told their supporters to vote conservative. In the UK all parties were told to vote for anyone who had the best chance of defeating UKIP in any particular seat. A large number of lib/dems and Labour voted conservative in the constituency Nigel stood as MP to stop him being elected to the British Parliament. It was the anyone but Nigel election.
Nigel remains a Euro MP as it is a system of proportional representation.