It’s almost D-day for the senatorial elections. This Sunday, 170 of the 348 seats that make up the upper house of Parliament are at stake. Traditionally little followed by the French, due to their vote by indirect universal suffrage, this deadline is no less important. BFMTV.com presents its problems and how it works.
This Sunday the French will be able to stay at home. It is not necessary to go to the polls. Senators are appointed by the “electors.” Or a large system of elected officials (approximately 162,000) made up essentially of delegates of municipal councilors. The voting method is majority or proportional, depending on the number of senators to be elected in the departments.
Not all members of the Luxembourg Palace are affected. Half of the body is renewed every three years. This year it concerns the constituencies of the departments ranging from 37 (Indre-et-Loire) to 66 (Pyrénées-Orientales), but also 6 overseas communities and 6 senatorial seats representing French people abroad.
We could well say it right away: the senatorial elections, barring a big surprise, are not going to alter the balance of power in the Senate. The upper house has always been right-wing since 1958 and the creation of the Fifth Republic, except for a period dominated by the socialists between 2011 and 2014. This trend is unlikely to be reversed, especially in light of the recent municipal elections, in 2020, during which the right defended itself well. Which in fact guarantees a significant number of local elected officials.
Therefore, the Republican group, made up of 145 senators, should retain its control in the Luxembourg Palace, together with its centrist allies (57 elected officials). However, the latter hope to somewhat rebalance the balance of power within the majority. In this sense, they will closely follow the results in Paris, where two dissident lists were presented in addition to the one officially defended by LR.
Opposite, the left, formed by an alliance between the socialists (64 elected officials), the communists (15) and the environmentalists (12), hopes to reach the symbolic bar of 100 senators. To do this, you would need to collect 9 folding seats. This gain would not only be symbolic, but would allow him to influence the votes that are decided with a few votes.
The Macronists, represented by 24 elected officials, will try to limit the damage, although they have not reached a national agreement with their allies from Horizons and MoDem, both with five senators, although the union could be carried out in most cases. electoral districts. Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe hopes that some of his loyalists will enter the Luxembourg Palace so that his party will have more influence in the face of the next presidential elections in 2027.
With little local presence, the National Rally hopes to pick up some seats in its successful electoral strongholds: Moselle, Nord and Pas-de-Calais, the department where Marine Le Pen is an MP. The flame party lost its last senator last year, when Stéphane Ravier joined Éric Zemmour during the presidential campaign.
• What is the role of the Senate?
The Senate has acquired a special place since the last legislative elections, in June 2022. This deadline caused an important change: the presidential side now only has a relative majority in the National Assembly. As a result, the government is seeking agreements with the opposition on its bills. So far, it favors the right. However, this is more reliable for the executive in the Senate, where it has the majority.
Pension reform serves as jurisprudence. Divided in the National Assembly, LR deputies were never able to secure their support for the executive, which ultimately obtained 49.3 votes. Before lining up behind the favorable vote of the Luxembourg Palace to defend the legitimacy of its text. Quite a symbol. Another: certain texts now go to the Senate, before reaching the Assembly. Everyone finds their interest there. The executive can rely on LR deputies on a bill voted by his senatorial counterparts; the latter can modify the government’s version.
However, I do not believe that the Senate has become the best ally of the Executive. This would mean forgetting its mission to control the government and evaluate public policies. In this way, the Upper House has demonstrated its independence on numerous occasions in recent years and also recently. There are numerous examples of commissions of inquiry, whether on the Benalla affair, the management of the Covid-19 crisis, the use of consulting companies or the Marianne Fund. There are many cases in which the Senate acted as a counterpower.
Source: BFM TV
