Dr Bertrand Bourgeois speaks in-depth about the snap French elections for the National Assembly (lower house) called by President Emmanuel Macron. With the far-right National Rally or Rassemblement National (led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella) leading in the polls, closely followed by the far left coalition, the New Popular Front or Le Nouveau Front Populaire (comprising La France Insoumise or France Unbowed, the Greens, Communists, and Socialists), and Macron’s centrist coalition Ensemble, including his Renaissance party coming in third – was it a miscalculated gamble to go early? Why is Jean-Luc Mélenchon such a polarising figure? What do the parties and coalitions stand for and why is the far-right becoming “mainstream” in France? Dr Bertrand Bourgeois is a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Melbourne.