The French will go to the polls on Sunday to elect new parliamentary representatives following the surprise dissolution of the National Assembly by President Emmanuel Macron three weeks ago.
Macron's shock decision to take the risky gamble followed the resounding defeat of his centrist government by the far right at the elections to the European Parliament.
Macron's position is not at stake in the two-round election, but the make-up of parliament will have a big impact on the remainder of his term in office, which runs until 2027.
Here's how the voting works in one of Europe's most influential countries.
What role does the National Assembly play?
The National Assembly is the central pillar of the French parliament. The 577 deputies are directly elected for five years and vote on laws. There is also a second chamber of parliament, the Senate, which plays a secondary role and is elected at a different time.
If the chambers cannot agree, the government can give the National Assembly the final say on legislation. Macron's centrist alliance held the most seats in the National Assembly before it was dissolved, but not an absolute majority.
How important is a majority for Macron?
The last two years have been plagued by bickering and infighting, showing that governing without an absolute majority in the National Assembly is difficult.
But a majority would be particularly important for Macron for one big reason: The lower house can topple the government with a vote of no confidence.
Should a camp other than Macron's receive an absolute majority, which polls believe is possible, the president would therefore effectively be forced to appoint a head of government from their ranks.
The far-right nationalists have hopes of coming into government. Even if Macron's own job is not at stake in the election, his position would be significantly weakened in such a scenario.
How does the election work?
The lawmakers are elected directly by the people in their district.
Whoever receives more than half of the votes cast in their constituency on Sunday wins a seat in parliament - provided this corresponds to at least a quarter of the registered voters there.
But very few will manage this feat in the first round.
Most seats are allocated in a run-off election a week later. That's when the top two vote-getters will face off, along with any other candidate that received the support of at least 12.5% of all registered voters in the district.
If several candidates make it through to the run-off, it is common for contenders to drop out of the race. This tactic has been used to consolidate voters and block victories by far-right candidates.
When will the results be known?
Since members of parliament are elected district-by-district - not on the basis of proportional representation - there is no official national-level result.
Nevertheless, election analysts will add up all the ballots cast in the individual constituencies to come up with a percentage breakdown of voter support for each party or political alliance.
But as virtually no seats are allocated in the first round and the political winds can change in the second round, it is difficult to draw any conclusions from this result.
The unusual nature of a snap election in France makes predicting the final outcome even harder. That's because normally parliamentary elections quickly follow a presidential election - and support for parties largely mirrors each other in each election.
