French revolution | Editorial Comment

French President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble to call snap elections following the far-right National Rally Alliance’s strong showing in the European parliamentary elections last month has thrown France into turmoil. In a record turnout for a runoff election, French voters unexpectedly relegated Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally Alliance, or RN, to third place, instead of the majority it had anticipated after the first round of voting. The RN’s predicament was courtesy a pre-electoral arrangement of convenience between Mr Macron’s centrist Ensemble coalition and the left alliance, the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP). To stop the RN in its