Major victory for Marine Le Pen’s party: The French far right wins 15 seats in the Senate elections

The National Rally, the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen, achieved an important result in the senatorial elections held on Sunday in France, winning nine seats. Together with its allies in the Union of the Right for the Republic, the far right now has 15 senators, four times more than it previously had.

The vote took place less than seven months before the presidential election and is an important sign of the rise of far-right parties.

As a result, the National Rally will be able to form, for the first time, a parliamentary group in the Senate. This status will give the party more speaking time, additional resources, and a stronger position ahead of Marine Le Pen’s candidacy for the Élysée Palace. Marine Le Pen described the result as a “historic victory” and a major milestone. The party’s president, Jordan Bardella, said that, “for the first time in its history,” the National Rally and its allies will have a group in the Senate.

The senatorial elections are indirect and largely reflect the local strength of the parties, consolidated after the municipal vote in March. In some regions, the RN obtained scores up to five times higher than in 2020. The left-wing party La France Insoumise, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also won its first seat in the Senate, but remains weakly represented at the local level.

The result does not significantly alter the balance in the upper chamber. The Republicans and their centrist allies retain control of the Senate, despite a slight decrease in the number of seats.