Marine Le Pen’s National Rally will, for the first time in party history, be able to form a political group in the French Senate, granting the populist party new powers and a sense of political ascendancy and respectability.
The upper house of the bicameral French legislature is, like many institutions in the country, specifically designed to prevent political outsiders from gaining power in Paris, including the National Rally (RN) and its predecessor, the National Front, formed by Jean-Marie Le Pen. However, the poll-topping anti-mass-migration party broke a key barrier over the weekend, when around half of the Senate’s seats were up for grabs.
While the RN is projected to have more than the 10 senators needed to form a political group in the Senate, according to the AFP, the group’s ranks will be bolstered further with at least three senators of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party of Éric Ciotti, the former head of the Républicains, who sensationally broke with the establishment party in 2024 over his support for a Le Pen alliance against the liberal Macron government.
Forming a group in the Senate comes with multiple perks, including representation on committees, increased public funding, and the ability to launch parliamentary investigations independently.
However, perhaps just as importantly, it will provide the party with a badge of legitimacy, which may prove critical heading into next year’s presidential election. Although the party was founded in 1972, it didn’t elect a senator until 2014 and had only three seats as recently as 2023, despite the party long having had significant representation in the lower house, the National Assembly.
The disparity stems from the Assembly being directly elected by the public, whereas Senators are selected by votes from local elected officials, giving an edge to political parties with established political reach, such as the Républicains, projected to win up to 126 seats and the Socialists, at an expected 62 seats.
While still far below its representation in the National Assembly, the National Rally’s milestone indicates the party is expanding its influence across all levels of government. This local infrastructure may prove critical as the party heads into next year’s presidential elections, which, to win, will likely depend on its ability to organise its efforts locally.
Commenting on the political milestone for her party, Le Pen said: “The results go beyond what we could have hoped for; the breakthrough is widespread, confirming the acceleration of the National Rally’s establishment across the entire territory.
“With our UDR allies, our senators will be an essential relay in the presidential campaign to carry and defend the voice of the territories and place them back at the heart of priorities and public policies in a few months’ time.”
Her deputy, Jordan Bardella, added: “Our group in the Senate will carry the voice of the forgotten territories, of rural areas, and of mayors too often distanced from the major decisions made in Paris.”
Mayor of Nice and UDR leader Éric Ciotti said the group’s formation was “historic and will profoundly change the Senate,” predicting it will “precede the great shift of 2027” at the presidential election.
It comes as the latest major opinion poll, conducted by Toluna-Harris Interactive and published on Monday, found that Le Pen has solidified her lead in both rounds of the upcoming election, besting all candidates by nearly 20 points in the first round and easily defeating Mayor of Le Havre Édouard Philippe by 57 to 43 per cent, and far-left LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon by 69 to 31 per cent in prospective second-round matchups.