France: Moderate Right Continue To Control The Senate

Elections held in France on Sunday, during which half of the Senate was renewed, allowed right-wing parties to maintain control of the upper house of the Fifth Republic parliament. Indirect voting involved elected officials who voted in 170 new senators out of 378, representing the various departments into which France is divided.

Voters have clearly reaffirmed their confidence in the moderate right-wing Republicans, who have increased their Senate representation from 145 to 151 seats, and their centrist allies now have 77 seats in the upper house, up from the previous 57.

The renewal of the Senate occurs in France every three years. The procedure is based on “indirect” voting. The so-called “grand electors” from among the participants in elected authorities at various levels – members of municipal councils, departmental, and regional councils – can participate in it.

The French right has managed to maintain a majority in the Senate since the beginning of the Fifth Republic, or since 1958. There was one exception, when for three years, between 2011 and 2014, the Senate was controlled by a socialist majority.

The role of the Senate in France is fundamental to determining the strategic line of parliament in relation to the government. President Emmanuel Macron lost his absolute majority in the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) in the elections on June 19, 2022. As the French media wrote, now “Macron needs the moderate right from the Republicans party to scrape together a majority in the National Assembly.”