At the Luxembourg Palace, the political color does not change. The right, still largely dominant in the Senate, lost twelve seats in the upper house, a rebalancing in favor of the left-wing groups which are close to the bar of 100 senators, according to the new composition of the hemicycle adopted on Tuesday and confirmed by the various groups .
After the senatorial elections of September 24, the Senate therefore remains fairly stable overall, with a left-right divide still well anchored, a minority presidential majority and a control of the right and the center, allied around the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher.
Still eight groups in the hemicycle
The composition of the parliamentary groups has not upset the balance of power of the High Assembly, which still has the same eight groups in addition to four non-registered senators from the National Rally and Reconquest!.
The Les Républicains group nevertheless suffered a loss of twelve members and stood at 133 senators, compared to 145 before the senatorial elections. With the support of the centrist Union, stable with 56 senators (compared to 57 in recent months), the senatorial majority remains large in a hemicycle with 348 seats.
The left (socialist-ecologist-communist), which had made a common list in around fifteen departments for this indirect election, for its part came close to the common objective of the 100 left-wing senators, with 99 seats distributed among the three groups, against 91 before the vote. The socialists remain at the same level (64 senators), the communists gain three seats (18) and the ecologists five (17), the best progression in the hemicycle.
Renaissance limits damage
On the side of the presidential majority, the Renaissance group (RDPI) managed to save the furniture with only two fewer senators (22), a loss offset by the growth of the Independents group close to Edouard Philippe’s Horizons party (18, +4).
Finally, the RDSE group, made up in particular of radicals, the oldest in the Senate, has 16 members (+2). The Senate will now begin work this Wednesday on renewing its office and its committees, before the resumption of parliamentary debates next week.