What you need to know about the early elections in France

President Emmanuel Macron’s risky decision to call early parliamentary elections in France has backfired, with the far-right dominating Sunday’s first round of voting.

But the French will go to the polls again next Sunday for a second round of voting to elect their representatives to the National Assembly, the lower and most important house of the country’s parliament. The 577-seat House of Representatives is the National Assembly.

France finds itself in unpredictable territory, with the future of Mr. Macron’s second term at stake. The nationalist, anti-immigrant National Rally, led by Jordan Bardella, has never been closer to ruling the country.

Here’s what you need to know about the elections.

Why did Macron call for early elections?

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

Last month, Rassemblement National surged to first place in the European Parliament elections, while the centrist coalition led by Macron’s Renaissance Party finished a distant second.

After those results, which left Mr Macron a diminished figure with three years left in his term, the president dissolved parliament. He was not obliged to do so, but he believed a dissolution had become inevitable — opposition figures had threatened to topple his government in the fall. He said he believed early elections were the only way to respect the will of the people.

“This dissolution was the only possible choice,” Macron wrote in a letter to French voters last month. He is the first president to dissolve the National Assembly since 1997.

Official results published by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the Rassemblement National party and its allies won about 33 percent of the vote in the first round.

The New Popular Front — a broad alliance of left-wing parties that includes the Socialists, the Greens, the Communists and the far-left party France Unashamed — won about 28 percent of the vote.

Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and its allies won only about 20 percent of the vote.

Turnout for the first round was almost 67 percent, an unusually high figure that reflects both a high level of interest in a key race and a belief among voters that their vote could fundamentally change the course of Macron’s presidency.

The election has already shaken French politics to its core, creating rare unity on the left, creating chaos on the right and undermining Macron’s centrist alliance.

Anti-Semitism is a major issue, as are economic concerns. The race has highlighted France’s fragile finances and the prospect of a legislative stalemate that could undermine efforts to address them.

What’s at stake?

The presidency is France’s most powerful political office, with broad powers to rule by decree. But the approval of Parliament, and in particular the National Assembly, is required for most major domestic policy changes and major legislation, such as budget bills or amendments to the Constitution.

Unlike the Senate, the other house of parliament in France, members of the National Assembly are directly elected by the people and can overthrow a French cabinet with a vote of no confidence. The lower house also has more leeway in making legislation and usually gets the final say if the two houses disagree on a bill.

Most importantly, the composition of the National Assembly determines how France is governed.

If a new majority of anti-Macron lawmakers is formed, he will be forced to appoint a political opponent as prime minister in what is known as a “cohabitation,” which will significantly change France’s domestic policies and cloud its foreign policy.

Only the National Rally seems capable of winning enough seats for an absolute majority. If it does, Mr. Macron will have no practical choice but to appoint Mr. Bardella as prime minister. He could try to appoint someone else, but that would go against the election results and the National Rally lawmakers could quickly overthrow that person with a vote of no confidence.

What is the National Rassemblement and who are its leaders?

The Rassemblement National is France’s most prominent nationalist, anti-immigrant far-right party. It has won local elections and sent nearly 90 lawmakers to the lower house in 2022, but has never governed the country.

Originally called the Front National, it was founded in 1972 and included former collaborators with the Nazis during World War II. The party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was openly racist and publicly downplayed the Holocaust.

Marine Le Pen, Mr. Le Pen’s daughter, took over in 2011 and worked to “de-demonize” the party. She distanced herself from her father’s anti-Semitic statements and even ousted him in 2015. She also broadened the party’s platform to include pocketbook issues.

But some members remain under fire for racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic remarks. The party wants to drastically reduce immigration, make it harder for foreigners to become French and give French citizens priority over non-French residents in areas such as social security.

Le Pen ran for president in France in 2012, 2017 and 2022, but lost all three times, twice to Macron.

Mr Bardella, Ms Le Pen’s protégé, officially took over the party’s presidency in 2022. The 28-year-old son of Italian immigrants, Mr Bardella grew up in the Paris suburbs and was recently re-elected to the European Parliament. Soft-spoken and impeccably dressed, he embodies Rassemblement National’s efforts to improve its image.

What happens if no clear majority emerges?

That is uncertain. Mr Macron would have limited options as to how to proceed.

The president could try to form a new coalition, but France, unlike Germany, is not used to that. And the three main blocs expected to gain control of the lower house — the far right, the left-wing alliance and Macron’s centrist coalition — have radically different agendas and have in some cases expressed extreme hostility toward each other.

It is unclear how France will proceed if a working majority cannot be formed.

One possibility being discussed by analysts is an interim government that would run the country’s day-to-day affairs until there is a political breakthrough, as has happened in Belgium. But this too would be a break with French tradition.

If a clear majority does not emerge, the country could be mired in political deadlock or unrest for months. Mr. Macron, who has ruled out stepping down, cannot call new parliamentary elections for another year.

How does the two-round election work?

France’s 577 constituencies — one for each seat — cover the mainland, overseas departments and territories, as well as French citizens living abroad. France awards seats to candidates who receive the most votes in each district.

In the first round per district, any number of candidates can participate, but there are specific thresholds to reach the second round.

In most cases, the two candidates with the most votes are elected in the second round, but there can also be three or four candidates if they receive a number of votes equal to at least 12.5 percent of the registered voters in their district.

This is normally rare, but high turnout makes it more likely, and there were more than 300 three-way re-elections after the first round last week. Many parties — especially on the left — said they would withdraw third-place candidates from races led by the National Rally, to avoid splitting the vote and preventing the far right from gaining an outright majority.

Whoever gets the most votes in the second round wins the race.

Under certain circumstances, a candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round wins outright. But only 76 of the 577 seats in the country’s parliament were won that way on Sunday.