While the presidency of the National Assembly has remained in the hands of a Macronist, the hemicycle’s executive body will be dominated by MPs from the left-wing New Popular Front.
Macronist Yaël Braun-Pivet may have been re-elected president of the National Assembly, but she will now have to run the institution in cohabitation with the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP).
To everyone’s surprise, the left-wing party won an absolute majority of seats on the Bureau of the National Assembly, its executive body, on Friday night.
In all, of the 22 seats up for grabs, the NFP won six vice-presidencies, three quaestors now entirely female, and 12 secretaries.
The Left Front therefore has an absolute majority, with the remaining seats divided between the presidential camp (five), the Republican Right (three), and the Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories (LIOT) grouping (two).
A configuration that “will change the working atmosphere at the National Assembly a little,” said Mathilde Panot, leader of the LFI deputies, after the vote, denouncing the sanctions against her group under the previous legislature, the most severe of which is proposed by this bureau.
While the Bureau remains chaired by Yaël Braun-Pivet, it is the body that allocates the floor, ensures that debates run smoothly, settles certain disputes, and has the power to sanction other MPs during these sessions.
Members of the Executive also take part in the Assembly’s Conference of Presidents, which decides, among other things, on the Assembly’s agenda.
Their election was severely disrupted on Friday by an incident in the first round. As the ballot boxes contained more envelopes than voters, the election had to be cancelled and then reorganized.
As for the purse strings of the Assembly, they will be held by three women in the post of quaestor: a socialist, a Macronist, and a member of the Republican Right (ex-LR).
