French president gambles on a snap general election

The French president stunned the nation on the evening of June 9 with his televised statement from the Elysee Palace that he was immediately dissolving parliament and calling a new legislative election.

"I have heard your message and I will not let it go without a response," Macron said.

The message from the French electorate was that the far-right National Rally scored a major victory in the race to elect France's MEPs, the politicians that represent France in the European Union's parliament.

The nationalist party ended with 31 per cent of the vote.

Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance came a distant second with 15 per cent.

The snap domestic polls will take place on June 30 and July 7 to elect France's 577 MPs.

If no candidate in a particular constituency wins an absolute majority of votes in the first round at the end of June, then a second round will be held in that seat one week later.

The most recent general election was in 2022, and while Emmanuel Macron's party was once again the biggest party in parliament, it fell well short of a majority, even when combined with its two centrist coalition partners.

It means that the government has been forced to try to craft legislation that will garner sufficient support from opposition partners to pass parliament.

It has also taken dramatic action such as deploying unusual constitutional measures to force policies through without a vote by MPs, such as with contentious pension reforms last year.

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Macron's Renaissance has 171 MPs, and the National Rally is the second-biggest party in the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, with 88 lawmakers.

The prime minister is appointed by the president, and represents the biggest party.

If the far right manages to overtake Renaissance with the greatest number of MPs, the 28-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella would almost certainly become the new prime minister.

If the National Rally manage to hold onto their current MPs, and add another 201 seats, they would have a majority in Parliament and be able to steer through populist, anti-immigration policies, though the president would maintain oversight of foreign and defense policies.

Macron will be hoping to maintain his centrist group's position as the biggest party in parliament, but he is already in a weak position without a majority, and the outcome of this sudden election is far from certain.

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