France’s new-look Assemblée nationale convened for the first time yesterday (July 18), and completed its primary task – the election of a new president of the chamber.
MPs who won a seat in the legislative elections earlier this month had the initial job of voting in a president (who acts somewhat like the Speaker in the UK House of Commons).
Yaël Braun-Pivet, a centrist MP from Macron’s party who held the post before the dissolution of the chamber due to the snap election, was re-elected to the role.
She is the first woman to be elected to the role.
She promised “a new method [of dialogue] in this chamber, which is more divided than ever’, as she took her seat.
“We have to be able to talk to each other, to listen to each other, to move forward,” she added, making reference to the fact that no alliance currently seems able to form a majority government.
It took three rounds of voting for her to be elected after no candidate won outright in first two.
The votes she received in the final round likely came after the right-wing candidate Philippe Juvin left the race.
Many had expected MPs from the right to ally immediately with centrists, who they may form a governing coalition with (MPs from the parties combined would make up the largest alliance in the Assemblée nationale, even if they did not have an absolute majority).
It casts doubt whether such an alliance between the groups is feasible.
In the same vein, the election of a Macronist ally to the role may give the president justification to appoint a prime minister from his own party’s ranks, under the idea that the vote showed his group had the most support in the chamber.
Others have criticised the election of Ms Braun-Pivet as undemocratic and not representative of the population’s dissatisfaction with Macron’s party.
Read more: PM resigns and transition government begins - is France at a standstill?
How was the new president of the chamber elected?
The election is conducted via a secret ballot where each MP casts one vote. It can last a maximum of three rounds.
In the first two rounds, if a candidate receives 289 or more votes (equivalent to over 50% of MPs in the chamber) they are automatically elected.
If no candidate reaches this number, a final third round is held, and the candidate with the most votes is elected.
Ms Braun-Pivet received 220 votes in this final round. Her opposition, Communist Party MP André Chassaigne, candidate from the left-wing alliance Nouveau Front Populaire won 207 votes. Around 15 of these votes for Mr Chassaigne came from MPs outside the alliance.
MPs are not required to vote and it is likely those from the far-right Rassemblement National abstained in the final round.
What does the president do?
The role of president of the Assemblée nationale is not only seen as figuratively important – as a representation of the most powerful political party in the chamber – but comes with a number of key tasks.
The official website of the Assemblée nationale calls the president of the chamber the “fourth-most important political individual” in France, after the president, prime minister, and head of the Senate.
Their main role is to preside over debates on legislation, including what issues are to be debated, and how much time is to be spent discussing them.
The president is aided by up to six vice-presidents from other political groups in the chamber, to maintain fair time for each group to have their proposals discussed.
In addition, they have the ability to appoint a member of the Constitutional Council (France’s highest authority on constitutional matters or queries), and two of the six members of the Conseil supérieur de la magistrature (High council of the judiciary).
They also have the ability to appoint members to a number of smaller councils and administrative groups across France.
There is also an element of ‘representing the nation’ that the president of the chamber undertakes.
They can accompany the French president or prime minister to key events, both in France and abroad, and act as the official representative of the Assemblée nationale at these events.
What has been the reaction to the election?
Due to these reasons – and France’s current lack of a prime minister – the election was watched with close scrutiny.
Read more: Why this week should clarify (a bit) the political situation in France
The election of a Macronist candidate to the role gives the impression that they wield the most power in the chamber, and MPs from the party said this should give them the right to form the next government.
Others, however, said the position of Ms Braun-Pivet was already untenable.
Charles de Courson, a centrist MP not aligned with Macron’s party, called it “a denial of democracy”.
“‘When the French are questioned about [this vote which] results in the re-election of the outgoing President, who represents a political current that has suffered two serious defeats - in the European and the legislative elections - many of our fellow citizens will be asking themselves what a denial of democracy this is,” he said.
Left-wing politicians also decried the result. André Chassaigne, the Communist party candidate narrowly defeated in the second round, called the result “unhealthy and nauseating.”
This is because the centrist group declared themselves as an ‘opposition party’ in the chamber, allowing them to appoint MPs to certain roles not reserved for the ruling party, yet still have control over the chamber’s presidency.
He added the group had devised “a combination that has made it possible to change nothing when the population has asked for change [via their votes at the legislative elections.”
