After the senatorial elections, it’s time for negotiations: the macronie measures its losses in the upper house while the right, with a majority in the Senate, concedes a certain erosion in favor of the centrists. On the left, a duel for the presidency of the socialist group is looming.
Unsurprisingly, the presidential camp lost some ground in this indirect and generally fairly stable election. One case is particularly sensitive for the government, that of Secretary of State for Citizenship Sonia Backès, beaten in New Caledonia by an independence candidate.
Returning to mainland France on Tuesday, the minister will soon be determined about her future, which is very uncertain if we are to believe the rule applied until now for members of the government defeated in the legislative elections, who had to resign.
“There is no rule laid down concerning ministers running for senatorial elections,” said Minister of Relations with Parliament Franck Riester on Sud Radio. “No decision has been made at this stage,” we learned from a government source.
In the background, the Macronist group in the Senate (RDPI) has lost some of its 24 members (three defeated outgoing members), but is active behind the scenes to attract elected officials, like Olivier Bitz (Orne), in the process of joining it according to several parliamentary sources.
“We are in negotiations,” slips the leader of the Macronist senators François Patriat, who is also eyeing the overseas side.
The senator from Côte-d’Or must, however, note that the presidential majority in the Senate depends even more on the Horizons party of Edouard Philippe, whose senators sit in another group, that of the Independents, chaired by Claude Malhuret.
“We had seven Horizons senators before the vote, we will have at least ten afterward,” calculates Mr. Malhuret, who could lead a group of around twenty members at the opening of the session, compared to 14 previously.
If the right hastened to announce a “consolidated senatorial majority” with “stability” of the Les Républicains group, the calculations of the night revealed a notable erosion of the first strength of the Senate.
“The LR group will lose between five and ten seats,” predicts a historic senator. The latest internal estimates painfully reached the figure of 139 members, compared to 145 before the election, provided that all those who are unsure can be convinced by Tuesday, October 3, the deadline for the composition of the parliamentary groups.
“The senatorial majority will be strengthened but above all rebalanced,” notes Hervé Marseille, the head of the centrist Union (UC), allied with the right at the Luxembourg Palace. “This will allow centrists to express differences more forcefully.”
The boss of the UDI, candidate for his succession at the head of the centrist group, is one of the winners of this election, with a probable progression of his group beyond 60 members, against 57 previously, casting a wide net ( MoDem, UDI, various right…). “But the path to the Senate is paved with temptations,” recalls the senator.
The objective of the 100 left-wing senators (socialists-ecologists-communists) is close and could even be achieved depending on the choice of a few elected officials not included. According to their estimates, the ecologists will have at least 16 seats (4) and the communists 17 (2).
As for the socialist group, which announced that it had secured a minimum of 65 seats (1), it must manage the question of its presidency.
Two candidates face each other, from Tuesday afternoon: the senator of Landes Eric Kerrouche, reputed to be close to the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure, would like to overtake the outgoing Patrick Kanner, representative of the other current of the PS, less “Nupes- compatible”.
“The main criticism that people make of me is that the group is not digitalized. I assume responsibility,” assures Mr. Kanner to AFP, defending the “positive” results of the socialists who “have died ‘screen’ in the Senate.
On the other hand, Mr. Kerrouche believes that “there is a need for a change in practices” in the socialist group. “We are a little underwhelmed on what we can do,” regrets the candidate, who points to the “tensions and tensions” following the last PS Congress.
Once considered a candidate, Val-d’Oise senator Rachid Temal ultimately did not submit a candidacy.
09/25/2023 18:11:08 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
