French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday defended his decision to hold snap legislative elections where a predicted far-right victory could hobble his remaining term, calling it the "most responsible solution".
His far-right rival and potential future prime minister Jordan Bardella urged voters to give his alliance a clear majority and said he would "refuse" to become head of government without one.
Macron's bloc is trailing the far right and a new left-wing alliance in the polls and faces an uphill struggle to narrow the gap less than two weeks before the first round.
He stunned the nation by calling the polls for June 30 and July 7 after the far-right National Rally (RN) trounced his centrist alliance in EU elections earlier this month.
Macron lost his absolute parliamentary majority in 2022 and his second term, which runs to 2027, risks being hampered with the opposition controlling the government and parliament.
But the president hit back on Tuesday, saying dissolving the National Assembly was "the heaviest, the most serious, but the most responsible" solution after the EU election debacle.
"Without the dissolution, it would have been chaos," he said during a visit to the western Brittany region, adding that a "silent majority" of voters were against the "disorder" of political extremes.
The gamble has triggered a major realignment of French politics, with new alliances including hardliners forming on the left and right, and bewildered some of his allies.
According to an IFOP poll for the LCI television channel, the RN would take 33 percent of the vote on June 30, the New Popular Front left-wing alliance 28 percent and Macron's ruling centrists just 18 percent.
But such an outcome would mean the RN would be unlikely to win the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.
RN leader Bardella, who at 28 could be France's youngest head of government, told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1 he needed an absolute majority to govern unhampered.
"I don't want to be the president's assistant," he said.
Speaking to France 2 television later on Tuesday, Bardella added that he would "refuse to be appointed" prime minister if he had no absolute majority.
Eyes are also already turning to presidential polls in 2027 where Macron must stand down and RN figurehead Marine Le Pen scents her best chance for power.
The prospect of the far right gaining power for the first time in France has set alarm bells ringing across the country, with football stars representing Les Bleus at Euro 2024 in Germany also weighing in.
Bardella said he admired the players, including the iconic Kylian Mbappe, but indicated they should stay out of politics.
"You need to respect everyone's vote," he said. "I am not sure that in this very difficult period... that this is appreciated by people."
"And when you have the luck to have a huge salary, be a multimillionaire, the chance to travel in a private jet, I am a little annoyed to see these sports figures giving lessons to people who... struggle to make ends meet."
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, 35, the youngest person to lead the country's government, urged voters to choose his party's candidates from the first round as the only "credible" alternative to keep the far right and hard left out of power.
He said the far right and hard left had programmes that would lead France "straight to bankruptcy" if they won.
Macron "took the unnecessary and dangerous risk that the latent political crisis that has been damaging our country for years will become a full-blown crisis," said Gilles Le Gendre.
Attal told Franceinfo that there were French who were "angry" or "unhappy with the dissolution" of parliament, but emphasised that Macron had been "elected until 2027".
