FRANCE’s right-wing opposition was yesterday on course to extend its historic domination of the Senate, in an election marking another electoral setback for the ruling party of President Emmanuel Macron.

Unlike the lower house National Assembly, the Senate is not elected by direct universal suffrage, but by around 150,000 voters known as “grands electeurs”, who include elected regional and national officials.

As such, this electoral college represents a reflection of the results of a local election where Macron’s Renaissance party – only founded for his 2017 presidential campaign and lacking grassroots – has consistently performed badly.

Only half the Senate is elected at any one time, and yesterday, 170 of the 348 seats were up for grabs for a six-year mandate. In 2026, the other 178 seats will be voted for.

With the biggest party the right-wing Republicans followed by the Socialists, the composition of the Senate is a throwback to traditional French politics up until the last decade, since the time the presidential election was been dominated by the centrist Macron, hard-left, and far-right.

The results of yesterday’s voting showed a trend towards incumbent senators keeping their seats, indicating the Republicans would remain by far the largest faction followed by the Socialists.

Embarrassment

The Republicans party said it expected to have 143-144 senators, almost identical to its current contingent of 145, while its more centrist allies in the chamber were hoping for 60 senators.

Patrick Kanner, head of the Socialists in the Senate, said he expected an alliance of his party along with Greens and Communists to get around 100 seats. The hard-left has stayed out of this alliance.

While it has some authority, especially over constitutional issues, the Senate lacks the power of the National Assembly lower house. However, an uncooperative Senate could cause considerable problems for the government.

The right controlled the Senate in recent years, except for a 2011-2014 interlude when it went to the Socialists.

Macron’s party lost its overall majority in the National Assembly in the 2022 parliamentary election and has rammed through a string of laws – including a controversial pension reform – using a controversial article that allows bills to pass without a vote.

In one major embarrassment for Macron’s faction, Sonia Backes, the state secretary for citizen issues, and the only minister standing yesterday, lost her seat in New Caledonia to pro-independence candidate Robert Xowie.

‘Counter power’

Senate speaker Gerard Larcher of the Republicans is expected to remain in his job – which last week saw the 74-year-old welcome the UK’s King Charles III to the Senate – by winning a sixth consecutive mandate.

“This senatorial renewal reinforces the senatorial majority of the right and the centre,” said Larcher, describing the chamber as an “essential counter-power”.

Bruno Retailleau, the head of the Republicans group in the Senate, said the result marked a “new failure of the president of the republic” showing his party’s “lack of connection on the ground”.

Francois Patriat, head of a pro-Macron group in the Senate, said the president would be able to count on around 20 supporters in the chamber.

“In the current context this is strong resistance. This is not a defeat.”

The far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen celebrated its return to the Senate, winning three seats.

Prominent Greens politician Yannick Jadot, who stood in the 2022 presidential election, won a seat, as did high-profile Communist Ian Brossat, who was responsible for housing issues at Paris city hall. – AFP, September 25, 2023.