An election with twists and turns for the key positions of the Assembly

Europe 1 with AFP 5:44 p.m., June 29, 2022

The session is likely to be long: the deputies voted on Wednesday to elect the office of the National Assembly, the agreement reached in the morning between the political groups having been shattered and surprise candidates on the left presenting themselves.

Six vice-presidents were elected after two hours of sitting: Valérie Rabault (PS), Caroline Fiat (LFI), Elodie Jacquier-Laforge (MoDem), Naïma Moutchou (Horizons), Sébastien Chenu (RN) and Hélène Laporte ( RN).

"Tambouille" and "denial of democracy"

Three posts of quaestors and twelve of secretaries must still be allocated, in proportion to the weight of the groups in the hemicycle.

Just before the session, the left alliance Nupes broke a draft agreement which notably provided for two vice-presidencies at the RN and a post of quaestor at LR Eric Ciotti.

"Tambouille", "denial of democracy", "sordid tricks": the deputies Nupes Paul Vannier, Mathilde Panot and Danièle Obono denounced an agreement which according to them would marginalize the left.

After a psychodrama in 2017 on the opposition quaestor, the majority revised the rules, establishing a points system according to the position to be filled.

At the test for the first time, the new rules apply with difficulty.

Despite a three-hour meeting in the morning between the group bosses and the president of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, "it is the most complete disorganization when they could have quietly achieved a balanced sharing", sighed Bertrand Pancher, co-president of the independent group LIOT.

"The Greens have announced two candidates without warning the others in Nupes"

To these difficulties between majority and oppositions are added confusions within Nupes: "the Greens announced two candidates without warning the others in Nupes. We do not understand too much", confesses a socialist.

The candidacies of environmentalists Sandrine Rousseau and Benjamin Lucas for the vice-presidency of the Assembly were added in extremis, "to block the far right", they justified.

There was thus an agreement on the vice-presidencies "until 2:29 p.m. and 30-40 seconds", pointed out Aurore Bergé, leader of the LREM deputies.

The two green candidates ultimately only won around thirty votes.

Within LR, Annie Genevard regrets not having been able to apply for the same position, and expressed her dissatisfaction via Twitter, judging that "arithmetic has a good back" and that "the majority is alone against Nupes and at the RN".

The six vice-presidents of the Assembly, together with the president of the Assembly, chair the meetings in turn.

The three quaestors, traditionally two from the majority and one from the opposition, hold the purse strings of the institution.

Twelve secretaries complete the office.