France’s Bold Election Gamble: Here Is What’s at Stake

President Emmanuel Macron threw French politics into disarray this month when he unexpectedly called for snap elections.

The surprise move came after his party was battered by the far right in European Parliament elections. Mr. Macron dissolved the lower house of France’s Parliament and said the first round of legislative elections would be held on June 30. Mr. Macron is the first president to do so since 1997.

France now finds itself in unpredictable territory, with the future of Mr. Macron’s second term potentially at stake after one of the shortest election campaigns in modern French history.

Here is what you need to know about the snap election.

• Why did Macron call for snap elections?

• What’s at stake?

• When is France’s election?

• How will the vote work?

• What has happened so far?

Why did Macron call for snap elections?

When Mr. Macron was elected to a second term in 2022, his party failed to win an outright majority. The centrist coalition he formed has since governed with a slim majority — but struggled to pass certain bills.

Then, earlier this month, France’s far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally party surged to first place in elections for the European Parliament, while the centrist coalition led by Mr. Macron’s Renaissance party came in a distant second.

Mr. Macron was under no obligation to dissolve Parliament, even if the European vote left him a reduced figure with three years remaining in his presidential term. But he believed that a dissolution had become inevitable — opposition lawmakers were threatening to topple his government in the fall — and that a snap election was the only way to respect the will of the people. The sudden election also presents voters with what he says is a stark choice between him or the political extremes.