France snap elections: All you need to know

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – Millions of voters in France will soon elect hundreds of new lawmakers in the snap parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron.

Polling will be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, with online voting for citizens abroad kicking off on Tuesday.

Some 49.5 million registered voters will elect 577 members of the National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, for a five-year term.

Macron dissolved the parliament and announced snap elections after the far-right National Rally (RN) swept more than 31% of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, a move that many observers have called a risky gamble.

- How it works

A political party or alliance needs at least 289 seats to secure a majority in the National Assembly.

Candidates need an absolute majority to be elected in the first round – 50% of the vote and a number that is at least 25% of the total registered voters in that particular constituency.

All candidates whose votes are less than 12.5% of the registered voters are eliminated and do not qualify for the second round.

The runoff can have two or more candidates in the fray and the one with the highest tally wins.

- What comes next?

These elections are particularly significant as the far-right RN of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen could come to power in France for the very first time.

If the election is won by a party or alliance other than the president’s political camp, France will enter a period of “cohabitation,” another way of saying power-sharing, something that happened several times in the 1980s and 1990s.

In such a scenario, the president’s executive power decreases as they have to give more space to the prime minister.

As questions swirled over his future plans, Macron came out and said he intends to stay on until the next presidential election in 2027.

- Who are the main political forces?

Despite the RN’s victory in the EU elections, French right-wing parties faced challenges in forming an alliance.

Eric Ciotti, leader of the center-right The Republicans (LR), decided to join forces with the RN, sparking backlash from his party.

LR members stripped Ciotti of the party leadership, accusing him of “treachery,” but he challenged the move in court and a tribunal overturned his expulsion.

RN leader Bardella has said the party will focus on migration, stressing that the problem is placing an “unbearable weight” on “public finances and the social security system.”

He has vowed to curb migration into France, end birthright citizenship, implement legal changes to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crimes, and take measures to address economic issues.

His stance on the Ukraine war has raised questions about France’s support to Kyiv, something that Macron has said will last “as long as necessary.”

Bardella said he is in favor of supporting Kyiv in terms of logistics and defense supplies, but long-range missiles or military equipment that could lead to escalation will be a “red line.”

On the other end of the French political spectrum is the New Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties, including the Greens, the Socialist Party, La France Insoumise (LFI), and the French Communist Party.

Their focus is mainly on economic issues such as inflation, purchasing power, increasing minimum wage and salaries of civil servants.

The alliance has also vowed to rescind Macron’s controversial 2023 pension reform and lower the retirement age back to 60.

Macron, for his part, is pushing for centrist forces to come together against the far-right, even raising the specter of a “civil war.”

He has criticized the plans announced by both left- and right-wing parties.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal recently laid out the proposals of the centrist bloc, vowing to cut electricity bills by 15% this winter and raising the monthly pension amount.

He said they would encourage a four-day working model, build 14 new nuclear reactors and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% over the next three years.

Attal also warned that a right-wing victory will have a major impact on French foreign policy and could spark the beginning of a possible “Frexit” from the EU.

It will also spell the end of French support to Ukraine, he added.