Senatorial elections took place on 24 September 2023 to renew 172 of the 348 seats in the

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 ...

of the

French Fifth Republic The Fifth Republic () is France's current republic, republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of France, Constitution of the Fifth Republic.. The Fifth Republic emerged fr ...

. The Republicans, led by

Bruno Retailleau Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau (; born 20 November 1960) is a French politician who has served as Minister of the Interior (France), Minister of the Interior and Minister of State in the Bayrou government, as well as the preceding Barnier gov ...

, emerged as the largest group for the fourth consecutive cycle, but lost 7 seats.

Context

2020 senatorial elections

The 2020 senatorial elections led to a renforcement of the right-wing and centre majority. The parties making up majority of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

failed to gain ascendancy, while the Ecologist group reappeared. Because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the renewal of six senators representing French citizens living abroad was pushed back a year, while the French consular elections were themselves postponed till May 2021. As a result, their renewal took place in September 2021. In its previous configuration from the elections of 2022, the Senate was composed of three major groups ( LR, UC and SER) and six minor groups. It was thus predominantly right- and centre-leaning. The Republicans and Centrist Union group had 202 out of 348 seats, forming a majority. The main force of opposition came from the

Socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

with 64 senators.

2022 presidential and legislative elections

These elections took place 16 months after the 2022 presidential election, which saw the reelection of the outgoing President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

, as well as 14 months after the 2022 legislative election, which marked the end of the 15th legislature of the Fifth Republic. The latter led to a recomposition of the

, the lower house of the

French Parliament The French Parliament (, ) is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (France), Senate (), and the National Assembly (France), National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessi ...

Partisan objectives

The senatorial majority of the right and centre was the favourite to retain their majority. According to senator Roger Karoutchi of

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

, the prospects ranged from a loss of 5 seats to a gain of 2 seats within the Senate Republicans, the most important group in terms of the numerical strength in the Senate. With regard to the centrists, their objective was the surpassing the Socialist group and becoming the Senate's secondary political group. Numerically, the group's prospects ranged from a loss of 4 seats to a gain of 3 seats.

Context

2020 senatorial elections

2022 presidential and legislative elections

Partisan objectives

Results

Detailed results

Senators who lost reelection

References

See also