First round of snap parliamentary election kicks off in France

France is about to hold a snap elections to the National Assembly (the lower house of parliament), which distinctive feature is an extremely brief (less than three weeks) election campaign that would overlap with preparations for the Olympics due to kick off in Paris on July 26, Report informs referring to TASS.

A total of 577 seats are up for grabs for the centrist presidential coalition, the right-wing National Rally (RN) and the leftist New Popular Front.

A candidate wins the seat if he or she secures a majority of votes in the first ballot. Only the candidates who garnered at least 12.5% of the votes in the first round are allowed to participate in the second one. Those win who secure more votes.