The session is likely to be long: the deputies voted Wednesday, June 29 to elect the office of the National Assembly, the agreement reached in the morning between the political groups having shattered and surprise candidates on the left presenting themselves.

Six vice-presidents were elected after two hours of sitting: Valérie Rabault (Socialist Party), Caroline Fiat (La France insoumise), Élodie Jacquier-Laforge (MoDem), Naïma Moutchou (Horizons), Sébastien Chenu (National Rally, RN) and Hélène Laporte (RN).

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 New People's Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), the left-wing alliance, broke a draft agreement which notably provided for two vice-presidencies at the RN and a post of quaestor for Éric Ciotti (Les Républicains, LR).

"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.

Tested for the first time, the new rules hardly apply.

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 group Freedoms, independents, overseas and territories (Liot).

The Greens present two candidates "without warning"

Added to these difficulties between the majority and the opposition are confusion within the Nupes: "The Greens have announced two candidates without warning the others in the Nupes. We don't really understand," 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 Renaissance deputies (ex-La République en Marche).

The two environmental candidates ultimately won only around thirty votes.

>> To read also: "Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense: how parliamentary committees work"

Within LR, Annie Genevard regrets not having been able to apply for the same position, and expressed her dissatisfaction on 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.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN