The Senate Chamber, during the general policy statement by Jean Castex.

-

Jacques Witt / SIPA

The ballot for the senatorial elections has been open since 8:30 am this Sunday in metropolitan France: some 87,000 major voters are called to the polls to renew half of the Senate, or 172 seats out of 348. This election should be marked by a green breakthrough, which could allow the constitution of an environmental group, but the balance of political forces in the upper house, where the right has been in the majority since 2014, should remain stable.

The Senate is renewed by half every three years.

This year are concerned the elected representatives of 58 metropolitan departments between Ain and Indre and between Bas-Rhin and the Territory of Belfort, outside Ile-de-France.

Overseas, senators from Guyana and 4 communities (Wallis and Futuna, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, French Polynesia) are also renewed.

In majority-voting departments (where one or two senators are elected), the grand electors vote at the prefecture from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for the first round then, in the event of a second round, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

In the most populous departments, with at least three senators, proportional representation applies, with a ballot open from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm.

Projections but caution

Each of the groups that make up the Senate today has made its projections, but caution remains in order.

The leaders of the two main components of the majority, Bruno Retailleau (Les Républicains) and Hervé Marseille (centrist) expect the current political configuration to be maintained.

Sunday evening, "we will have a global vision, but not the details of the composition of the groups," warns Hervé Marseille.

This is all the complexity of the Senate, where political labels sometimes come after field combinations.

On the left, "the simulations suggest that the PS group (2nd in the Senate with 71 seats, including 35 renewable, editor's note) will remain at the same level", indicates its president Patrick Kanner.

The surprise announced should therefore come from environmentalists.

With five new elected officials, which seems feasible on paper, who would be added to a "core" of five senators already in place - the ecologists Esther Benbassa, Guillaume Gontard, Ronan Dantec, Joël Labbé and Sophie Taillé-Polian of Générations - the account would be good for creating a group.

But a little "fair", recognizes Ronan Dantec.

Low profile for LREM and RN

Unlike 2017, La République en Marche, weakly represented in the Senate (23 senators including ten renewable), has a low profile.

The boss of the group François Patriat is himself threatened in Côte-d'Or.

At the Luxembourg Palace, LREM is now setting itself a longer-term recomposition objective, confides Sébastien Lecornu's entourage.

The CRCE group with a communist majority has only 3 renewable senators out of 16, it is assured of its maintenance.

As for the RN, it risks losing its only senator, Stéphane Ravier.

Voting is compulsory for large voters, under penalty of a fine of 100 euros.

The representatives of the municipalities constitute 95% of the electoral college.

The deputies and senators of the constituency, regional advisers and departmental advisers also vote.

Senators are elected for a six-year term.

Politics

Who are the headliners of the 2020 Senators?

Politics

Will the green wave crash into the Senate?

  • PS

  • LREM

  • EELV

  • The Republicans

  • Senate

  • Senatorial