French protests add to Macron's political gamble as election race heats up

France's election campaign kicked off in earnest Monday following a weekend of violent nationwide protests against the far-right National Rally, or RN, whose record European Parliament gains sparked the snap vote.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the rising nationalist sentiment espoused by party figurehead Marine Le Pen and her 28-year-old protege, RN President Jordan Bardella.

Around 250,000 people marched in Paris and other cities across the country after labor unions and rights groups called for protests, according to police estimates cited by France's Le Monde newspaper. The CGT trade union told CNBC it counted 640,000 protesters nationwide on Saturday.

The unrest, which saw police deploy tear gas against some protesters, adds to a week of turmoil in France after President Emmanuel Macron's bombshell decision to dissolve parliament following steep losses for his Renaissance party in the European Union elections.

National Rally is currently leading in the polls with 35%, with less than two weeks to go until the first round of voting on June 30. The left-wing New Popular Front is in second place at 26%, while Macron's Renaissance is currently third at 18%, with a second round of voting due July 7.

A far-right majority would mark "unchartered territory" for France, with "major downside risks," Mujtaba Rahman, Eurasia Group's managing director for Europe, told CNBC.

More likely, however, is a "messy" hung parliament, he said — part of Macron's gamble to discredit RN's legitimacy ahead of the 2027 presidential elections.

"That's probably Macron's bet, that there will be no clear majority, parliament will remain a mess, and Macron will be able to point to the mess as an