French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the policies of his far-right and hard-left opponents could lead to "civil war", as France prepares for its most divisive election in decades.
Mr Macron called the snap legislative vote after his centrist party was trounced by the far-right National Rally (RN) in European Parliament elections earlier this month.
Weekend polls suggested the RN would win around 35% in the first round on Sunday, ahead of a left-wing alliance on between 27% and 29.5% and the president's centrists in third on 19.5-22%.
A second round of voting will follow on 7 July in constituencies where no candidate takes more than 50% in the first round.
Speaking on the podcast "Generation Do It Yourself", Mr Macron denounced both the RN and the hard-left France Unbowed party.
The 46-year-old said the far-right "divides and pushes towards civil war", while France Unbowed, which is part of the New Popular Front alliance, proposes "a form of communitarianism", adding that "civil war follows on from that, too".
Earlier today, French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said his RN party is ready to govern as he pledged to curb immigration and tackle cost-of-living issues.
"In three words: we are ready," Mr Bardella said as he outlined his party's plans.
The 28-year-old, credited with helping the RN clean up its extremist image, has urged voters to give the eurosceptic party an outright majority to allow it to implement its anti-immigration, law-and-order programme.
"Seven long years of Macronism has weakened the country," he said, vowing to boost purchasing power, "restore order" and change the law to make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crimes.
Mr Bardella reiterated plans to tighten borders and make it harder for children born in France to foreign parents to gain citizenship.
He added that the RN would focus on "realistic" measures to curb inflation, primarily by cutting energy taxes.
He also promised a disciplinary "big bang" in schools, including a ban on mobile phones and trialling the introduction of school uniforms, a proposal previously put forward by President Macron.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, of Mr Macron's Renaissance party, poured scorn on the RN's economic programme, telling Europe 1 radio the country is "headed straight for disaster" in the event of an RN victory.
Mr Attal will go head-to-head with Mr Bardella tomorrow in a TV debate.
On foreign policy, Mr Bardella said the RN opposed sending French troops and long-range missiles to Ukraine - as mooted by President Macron - but would continue to provide logistical and material support.
He added that his party, which had close ties to Russia before its invasion of Ukraine, would be "extremely vigilant" in the face of Moscow's attempts to interfere in French affairs.
Mr Macron insisted that France would continue to support Ukraine over the long term as he met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
"We will continue to mobilise to respond to Ukraine's immediate needs," he said alongside Mr Stoltenberg in Paris.
The election is shaping up as a showdown between the RN and the leftist New Popular Front, which is dominated by the hard-left France Unbowed.
Mr Bardella claimed the RN, which mainstream parties have in the past united to block, is the "patriotic and republican" choice faced with what he alleged is the anti-Semitism of France Unbowed.
The party, which opposes Israel's war in Gaza and refused to describe the 7 October Hamas attacks as "terrorism", denies the charges of anti-Semitism.
In calling an election in just three weeks Mr Macron hoped to trip up his opponents and catch them unprepared.
But analysts have warned the move could backfire if the deeply unpopular president is forced to share power with a prime minister from an opposing party.
RN's Marine Le Pen, who is bidding to succeed Mr Macron as president, has called on him to step aside if he loses control of parliament.
He has insisted he will not resign before the end of his second term in 2027 but has vowed to heed voters' concerns.
Speaking today, President Macron once again defended his choice to call snap elections.
"It's very hard. I'm aware of it, and a lot of people are angry with me," he said on the podcast.
"But I did it because there is nothing greater and fairer in a democracy than trust in the people."
