Election news: 5-minute guide to the latest on France's snap elections
From party alliances to shock announcements and the emerging key figures, here's your essential roundup of all the latest from France's snap parliamentary elections.
France will head back to the polls at the end of this month for snap parliamentary elections - called by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in the wake of his party's humiliating European election defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National.
The president's announcement caught everyone off guard - even key members of his own party - so three days later, political groups are scrambling to get ready and fight the very short election campaign.
READ ALSO What do snap parliamentary elections mean for France?
Here's a roundup of the latest election news:
Republican front
The most widely-heard call in France over the last three days has been for a Front républicain.
The concept of a 'republican front' is not a new one, it essentially means that when necessary mainstream parties put aside their differences in order to combat the extremists in the far-right movement.
Most recently it's been seen in the second round of the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022 - the final two candidates were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron and in that context plenty of people who detest Macron and all that he stands for cast their vote for him because they considered that the alternative - a far-right president of France - was much worse.
In the context of these parliamentary elections, the Front Républicain is more to do with political parties and essentially involves parties making agreements not to run candidates against each other in certain constituencies, in avoid to avoid splitting the vote and allowing in the Rassemblement National candidate.
Talks on these potential agreements are mostly still ongoing but it would involve, for example, the four left-wing parties who made up the Nupes group agreeing to run a single Nupes candidate in each seat - rather than diving the leftist vote by fielding one candidate from the far-left La France Insoumise, one from the centre-left Parti Socialiste, one from the Green and one from the Communist party.
It's early days, but most of these agreements are far from being done deals, despite pleas for unity.
Eric effect
One politician who appears to be swimming against the republican tide is Eric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing Les Républicains who has announced that he would be open to an alliance with Le Pen's party.
Les Républicains is one of the two parties that dominated French politics in the post-war period - the party of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Badly weakened since 2017 and at risk of fading into irrelevance, the party has been steadily drifting to the right for several years, electing in 2022 the very right-wing Ciotti as party leader.
An alliance with Le Pen would not come as a surprise to anyone who had read his most recent manifestos and policies, but the thought of the political heirs of Charles de Gaulle getting into bed with the far-right has caused shockwaves in France and within the party itself.
Protests
There have been several protests, especially in Paris, this week but unions and left-wing parties have called for mass demos across France this weekend.
Intended as a show of solidarity against the far-right, the protests are intended to echo 2002 when million of people took to the streets after Jean-Marie Le Pen progressed to the second round of the presidential election.
READ ALSO What would a victory for Le Pen's party mean for France?
Key figures
It's not only opposition parties and the media who were taken by surprise by Macron's election call, it also caught senior members of his own party off guard, with several saying privately (or less privately in the ear of friendly journalists) that they think Macron's 'grand pari' (big gamble) is a bad idea.
This number appears to include prime minister Gabriel Attal who was conspicuous by his absence for 48 hours after the announcement (even failing to post on his usually active Instagram account). However he's now back and saying that he will do whatever it takes to "avoid the worst".
Those of Macron's ministers who are members of parliament - and in France it is not necessary to be an MP in order to be a minister - are also declaring their candidacy in these elections and so far there are no surprises . . .
Key dates
Candidates have until Friday to confirm that they are standing. The formal campaign period begins on Monday, which is when election posters will start to go up and TV debates will be organised.
Voting takes place in two rounds; Sunday, June 30th and Sunday, July 7th.
Calendar: What next in France's snap parliamentary elections
We'll be publishing a round-up twice a week between now and the elections, but you can all find all the latest news in our Elections section.
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France will head back to the polls at the end of this month for snap parliamentary elections - called by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in the wake of his party's humiliating European election defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National.
The president's announcement caught everyone off guard - even key members of his own party - so three days later, political groups are scrambling to get ready and fight the very short election campaign.
READ ALSO What do snap parliamentary elections mean for France?
Here's a roundup of the latest election news:
Republican front
The most widely-heard call in France over the last three days has been for a Front républicain.
The concept of a 'republican front' is not a new one, it essentially means that when necessary mainstream parties put aside their differences in order to combat the extremists in the far-right movement.
Most recently it's been seen in the second round of the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022 - the final two candidates were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron and in that context plenty of people who detest Macron and all that he stands for cast their vote for him because they considered that the alternative - a far-right president of France - was much worse.
In the context of these parliamentary elections, the Front Républicain is more to do with political parties and essentially involves parties making agreements not to run candidates against each other in certain constituencies, in avoid to avoid splitting the vote and allowing in the Rassemblement National candidate.
Talks on these potential agreements are mostly still ongoing but it would involve, for example, the four left-wing parties who made up the Nupes group agreeing to run a single Nupes candidate in each seat - rather than diving the leftist vote by fielding one candidate from the far-left La France Insoumise, one from the centre-left Parti Socialiste, one from the Green and one from the Communist party.
It's early days, but most of these agreements are far from being done deals, despite pleas for unity.
Eric effect
One politician who appears to be swimming against the republican tide is Eric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing Les Républicains who has announced that he would be open to an alliance with Le Pen's party.
Les Républicains is one of the two parties that dominated French politics in the post-war period - the party of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Badly weakened since 2017 and at risk of fading into irrelevance, the party has been steadily drifting to the right for several years, electing in 2022 the very right-wing Ciotti as party leader.
An alliance with Le Pen would not come as a surprise to anyone who had read his most recent manifestos and policies, but the thought of the political heirs of Charles de Gaulle getting into bed with the far-right has caused shockwaves in France and within the party itself.
Protests
There have been several protests, especially in Paris, this week but unions and left-wing parties have called for mass demos across France this weekend.
Intended as a show of solidarity against the far-right, the protests are intended to echo 2002 when million of people took to the streets after Jean-Marie Le Pen progressed to the second round of the presidential election.
READ ALSO What would a victory for Le Pen's party mean for France?
Key figures
It's not only opposition parties and the media who were taken by surprise by Macron's election call, it also caught senior members of his own party off guard, with several saying privately (or less privately in the ear of friendly journalists) that they think Macron's 'grand pari' (big gamble) is a bad idea.
This number appears to include prime minister Gabriel Attal who was conspicuous by his absence for 48 hours after the announcement (even failing to post on his usually active Instagram account). However he's now back and saying that he will do whatever it takes to "avoid the worst".
Those of Macron's ministers who are members of parliament - and in France it is not necessary to be an MP in order to be a minister - are also declaring their candidacy in these elections and so far there are no surprises . . .
Key dates
Candidates have until Friday to confirm that they are standing. The formal campaign period begins on Monday, which is when election posters will start to go up and TV debates will be organised.
Voting takes place in two rounds; Sunday, June 30th and Sunday, July 7th.
Calendar: What next in France's snap parliamentary elections
We'll be publishing a round-up twice a week between now and the elections, but you can all find all the latest news in our Elections section.
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