France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party has achieved a significant electoral milestone, securing a record 14 seats in the rightwing-dominated Senate. The result, announced on Sunday, effectively quadruples the party's presence in the 348-seat chamber just months before the upcoming presidential poll.
Marine Le Pen, the RN presidential candidate, described the outcome as an “historic victory” and noted that the results “have exceeded our expectations.” This performance marks the first time the party has successfully cleared the 10-seat threshold required to form a dedicated caucus in the Senate. The party originally entered the upper house with two seats in 2014 under its former name, the National Front, and added three more in 2023.
According to an AFP tally, nine RN senators were elected during Sunday’s vote, which covers half of the upper chamber. These are in addition to the three senators who secured their seats in 2023. Furthermore, two senators were elected from the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), a party led by Eric Ciotti, who left the rightwing Republicans (LR) in 2024 to pursue an alliance with the far right. RN president Jordan Bardella confirmed that these new senators intend to form a group alongside their UDR allies.
While the right, center, and leftwing Socialists are expected to remain the dominant forces in the Senate, the hard-left France Unbowed party also managed to win a seat for the first time. The upper house’s long-standing president, Gerard Larcher, 77, is anticipated to be re-elected next week.
Marine Le Pen is currently eyeing the presidential elections scheduled for a first round in April next year, as incumbent centrist President Emmanuel Macron prepares to step down. Her party previously emerged as the largest single force in the lower-house National Assembly during the 2024 snap elections, although it did not secure a parliamentary majority.
