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France’s far-right National Rally surges in Senate elections
The Guardian • • world
Key Points:
- France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies won a record 14 seats in the Senate elections, quadrupling their presence in the 348-seat chamber ahead of the presidential poll.
- RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen hailed the results as a “historic victory,” marking the first time the party surpassed the 10-seat threshold to form a Senate caucus.
- The RN entered the Senate in 2014 with two seats and increased to three seats in 2023, with the latest elections adding nine more senators and two from RN ally Eric Ciotti’s Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR).
- Le Pen is positioning herself as a strong contender for the upcoming presidential election in April 2024, as centrist President Emmanuel Macron prepares to step down.
- The Senate remains dominated by right, centre, and leftwing Socialists, while the hard-left France Unbowed party won a seat for the first time.
