Why France’s president called a snap election

Emmanuel Macron is nothing if not a risk-taker. At the age of 38, an electoral debutant, he launched a new centrist party and went on to win the French presidency in 2017, barely a year later. Now Mr Macron has taken a fresh political gamble that puts his credibility and authority on the line for the three years that remain of his second term in office. His unexpected decision, announced on June 9th, to dissolve the National Assembly and hold snap elections in a two-round poll on June 30th and July 7th, has stunned even his own deputies, and left all parties scrambling to book venues, pick candidates and plan their campaigns.