Historic Senate Caucus Win
French Far Right Wins Fourteen Senate Seats to Form First Upper House Caucus
Anonymous
France’s National Rally and its ally, the Union of the Right for the Republic, won a combined 14 seats in the Senate election, giving the far right its first parliamentary group in the upper house. RN leader Marine Le Pen called the result a historic victory ahead of the 2027 presidential election, in which she is seeking to succeed Emmanuel Macron. The conservative Republicans and allied groups retained a Senate majority, with the Republicans holding at least 127 seats and their allies at least 72, leaving the chamber’s overall balance of power unchanged. The hard-left France Unbowed also won its first Senate seat.
Key Points
1
Nine National Rally senators were elected in the vote, joining three elected in 2023; two additional seats went to Eric Ciotti’s Union of the Right for the Republic.
2
Unlike members of the National Assembly, French senators are chosen indirectly: about 93,500 elected officials, mostly local and regional representatives, are eligible to vote. Senators serve six-year terms, and roughly half the chamber is renewed every three years.
3
The Senate election renewed 178 of the chamber’s 348 seats; voting took place across 64 of France’s 101 departments, as well as for some seats representing French citizens abroad.
4
Marine Le Pen said the results had “exceeded our expectations,” in addition to describing them as a historic victory.
5
If a party reaches the 10-seat threshold to form a Senate group, it gains additional rights in the chamber.
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