Indirect Senate elections were held for 114 of the 343 seats in the French

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on 21 September 2008. With this election, the number of senators was increased from 331 to 343;

Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy, officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, also known as St. Barts (English) or St. Barth (French), is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. The island lies about southeast of the island ...

and Saint Martin elected two senators each for the first time. Furthermore, this election was the last to be held under the old system: prior to this election, senators were elected in three classes for nine-year terms. Under the new system instituted in 2011, senators are elected for six-year terms in two classes.

New seats

Twelve new seats were filled in this election. They were divided in the following way: 1 new Senator each for the Ain,

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( ; , ; ; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a Departments of France, department in southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var (department), Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the sout ...

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

Hérault Hérault (; , ) is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault (river), Hérault River, its Prefectures in France, prefecture is M ...

, and Guyane ''départements'' and one in

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. The election marked the first time that French Polynesia had two seats in the Senate instead of just one. The

President of French Polynesia The president of French Polynesia (; ) is the head of government of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The office was first created in 1984. Moetai Brotherson has held the office since 2023. List of pre ...

Gaston Tong Sang and another member of his coalition, Béatrice Vernaudon, a former member of the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

who lost her seat in June 2007, contested the seats. Former French Polynesian President Gaston Flosse ran for his Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party and teamed up with Richard Tuheiava, a member of the pro-independence party Union for Democracy.

System

Electoral college

For the 114 seats up for election, the

electoral college An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

was composed of 50,720 elected officials (49,602 in metropolitan France). Of these, 48,453 were local councillors, 178 were MPs, 765 were regional councillors and 1,504 were general councillors.

Election

*Departments with 1 to 3 senators:

Two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

, using the same system as legislative elections. *Departments with 4 or more senators: Proportional representation, highest averages method, no Panachage or

preferential voting Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

Result

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" colspan=2 , Parties and coalitions ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Abbr. ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ''a'' ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , 2008 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± , - , - , style="background-color:#0233D2", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(''Union pour un mouvement populaire'') , style="text-align:right;" , UMP , style="text-align:right;" , 159 , style="text-align:right;" , 56 , style="text-align:right;" , 151 , style="text-align:right;" , –8 , style="text-align:right;" , 132 , style="text-align:right;" , –19 , - , style="background-color:#4AAAFF", , style="text-align:left;" , Centrist Union-UDF (''Union centriste–Union pour la démocratie française'') , style="text-align:right;" , UC-UDF , style="text-align:right;" , 30 , style="text-align:right;" , 4 , style="text-align:right;" , 29 , style="text-align:right;" , –1 , style="text-align:right;" , 31 , style="text-align:right;" , +2 , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(''Parti socialiste'') , style="text-align:right;" , PS , style="text-align:right;" , 95 , style="text-align:right;" , 29 , style="text-align:right;" , 116 , style="text-align:right;" , +21 , style="text-align:right;" , 131 , style="text-align:right;" , +15 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, Republican and Citizen (''Communiste, républicain, et citoyen'') , style="text-align:right;" , CRC , style="text-align:right;" , 23 , style="text-align:right;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;" , 23 , style="text-align:right;" , +0 , style="text-align:right;" , 21 , style="text-align:right;" , –2 , - , style="background-color:#00c000;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Europe Écologie–The Greens (''Europe Écologie–Les Verts'') , style="text-align:right;" , VEC , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , +0 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , +0 , style="text-align:right;" , 10 , style="text-align:right;" , +10 , - , style="background-color:#7D05B1", , style="text-align:left;" ,

European Democratic and Social Rally The European Democratic and Social Rally group (, abbreviated RDSE), formerly the Democratic and European Rally group (), is a parliamentary group in the French Senate (France), Senate including representatives of the Radical Party of the Left (P ...

(''Rassemblement démocratique et social européen'') , style="text-align:right;" , RDSE , style="text-align:right;" , 17 , style="text-align:right;" , 8 , style="text-align:right;" , 17 , style="text-align:right;" , +0 , style="text-align:right;" , 16 , style="text-align:right;" , –1 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total UMP, UC-UDF and one RDSE (Right) , , style="text-align:right;" , 189 , style="text-align:right;" , 60 , style="text-align:right;" , 180 , style="text-align:right;" , –9 , style="text-align:right;" , 164 , style="text-align:right;" , –16 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total "Presidential Majority" PS, CRC, VEC and all but one RDSE (Left) , , style="text-align:right;" , 118 , style="text-align:right;" , 32 , style="text-align:right;" , 139 , style="text-align:right;" , +21 , style="text-align:right;" , 177 , style="text-align:right;" , +38 , - , style="background-color:GRAY", , style="text-align:left;" , Non-Inscrits , style="text-align:right;" , NI , style="text-align:right;" , 6 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;" , +1 , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;" , +0 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 331 , style="text-align:right;" , 114 , style="text-align:right;" , 343 , style="text-align:right;" , +12 , style="text-align:right;" , 348 , style="text-align:right;" , +5 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=9 , ''a'' - Seats up for election (Serie A)
Source: Public Senat

References

{{French Senate

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...