France voted on Sunday in the first round of parliamentary elections that may trigger the biggest political earthquake in the country for decades.
President Macron stunned everyone, including his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, when he called the snap two-round polls for the National Assembly, the powerful lower house, after his centrist Renaissance party was routed by the hard-right National Rally in the European elections on June 9.
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The president’s decision, taken in secret with a handful of advisers, was a shock because the next assembly elections were not due until the late spring of 2027.
Macron, who has three years left in his
