Rassemblement National wins nine seats in French Senate elections

The right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) achieved another success in the partial elections for the French Senate. In the vote, Marine Le Pen's party received nine new mandates. Together with its partner party UDR, the RN will have 14 senators in the future and will therefore be able to form a parliamentary group in the upper house for the first time.

The RN has already held three seats in the Senate since 2023 that were not currently up for election. With the new representatives, the party has twelve senators. Even after the election, the right-wing conservative Republicans and their allies retained their majority in the chamber with a total of 348 seats.

In the partial elections of the upper house of the French Parliament around seven months before the presidential election in France, no major changes in power were expected, but rather shifts within the right-wing majority. Group status is associated with more parliamentary rights.