Partial election of the French Senate: direction before the presidential election

Seven months before the presidential election in France, half of the Senate will be re-elected.

Since morning, around 93,500 local and regional politicians have been called to vote in the partial elections for the upper house of the French Parliament. The parliamentary chamber is currently dominated by conservatives. The Républicains are by far the largest group with 131 members. President Emmanuel Macron's camp currently has 19 seats in the Senate.

Major changes in power are not expected in the partial election, but rather shifts within the right-wing majority. The Républicains may have to lose some seats. The crucial question is whether Marine Le Pen's right-wing Rassemblement National (RN), which also wants to run in the presidential election, will get enough seats to be able to form a parliamentary group in the Senate for the first time. Ten seats would be needed for this, but so far the right-wing populist party only has three seats. As a faction, the party would gain more rights in the Senate.

The Senate consists of 348 members who are elected for six years. About half of the seats are filled every three years. Now there are 178. The Senate is involved in legislation, but in the event of conflicts with the National Assembly it has to bow to the vote of the lower house.