Gérard Larcher applauded after his re-election as head of the Senate on October 1, 2020. -

AFP

A Senate entirely masked because of Covid-19 very largely re-elected Thursday as president, for a fourth term, Gérard Larcher (LR), who affirmed "the duty to sew up a country undermined in its cohesion".

With a majority of the right and of the center reinforced by the senatorial elections on Sunday, the outgoing president won without surprise in the first round.

At 71, he is leaving for a three-year term.

Gérard Larcher received 231 votes against 65 for the president of the socialist group Patrick Kanner, 15 for the president of the predominantly communist CRCE group Eliane Assassi and 13 for the president of the brand new "Ecologist, solidarity and territories" group Guillaume Gontard.

A "space for debate" and "breathing"

Strong and prolonged applause greeted the announcement of the result.

The re-elected president then returned to his place on the plateau (the equivalent of the perch in the Assembly) where he delivered a speech, face without a mask.

"We are an assembly of freedom where every voice is respected and, believe me, I will be the guarantor," said Gérard Larcher.

"We are this" breathing space "in the Republic, this space for debate where everyone respects each other, a space where national solidarity is expressed when it comes to the essential", continued the elected representative of Yvelines.

Of the 348 senators, 79 are newly elected (out of the 172 seats up for grabs last Sunday).

At 3 p.m., the oldest member Jean-Marie Vanlerenberghe, 81, centrist, declared open the ordinary session, assisted by six secretaries, the six youngest senators, including the youngest Rémi Cardon (PS) who, at 26 years old , is the youngest elected to the Senate under the Fifth Republic.

"Difficult" times to come

"Far from the turbulence of the Palais-Bourbon", the Senate "remains a space of stability for our institutions", declared the president of the age office.

He then named the candidates in the running, the name of Gérard Larcher being warmly applauded on the benches of the right.

The senators succeeded each other at the rostrum in alphabetical order to vote by secret ballot, each elected official moving at the call of his name to place his ballot in the ballot box.

In conquered ground, Gérard Larcher had nevertheless sent his colleagues “a project” which takes stock of his action and sets out the objectives for the next three-year term.

He repeats his mantra: "In the Senate, we never say yes out of discipline, never no out of dogmatism."

"The times to come promise to be difficult", he warns, calling on the elected representatives of the Upper Assembly to be "reducers" of fractures, those which undermine and divide our country ", and" rebuilders "of confidence between our fellow citizens, their elected representatives and the intermediary bodies, between the territories and the executive ”.

Resumption of work on October 13

The senator from Yvelines reaffirms his will that the Senate, which represents the territories, "participates in a rebalancing of powers for the benefit of communities".

Within the institution, he wishes to continue "the process of modernization" of the procedures for making the law.

The Senate will not resume its legislative work in the Chamber until October 13, with a provisional program that promises to be loaded before the essentials of the finance bill and the Social Security budget, but also the bill " zero long-term unemployed ”, the bill extending the exit regime from the state of health emergency, the research bill… Until then, the institution will still have to finish putting itself in working order, with next Tuesday the constitution of its final office and Wednesday that of the offices of the various commissions.

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