French centrist party suffers first blow in Senate elections
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron’s upstart centrist party suffered its first electoral blow Sunday, as traditional conservatives dominated Senate elections amid mounting disenchantment with Macron’s leadership.
The results damage Macron’s legitimacy as he seeks to make his mark on Europe’s future and embarks on a divisive labor law overhaul that he hopes will invigorate the moribund French economy. Truckers plan to block highways and fuel depots Monday in the latest show of anti-macron defiance.
Macron could still pass his reforms despite the election result, however. That’s because the lower house of Parliamenthasthefinalsayinlegislation over the Senate, and because lawmakers from the conservative Republicans party support many of Macron’s pro-business policy plans.
Official results from voting across mainland France showed the Republicans clearly winning Sunday’s vote for about half the chamber’s 348 seats, followed by the Socialists, traditional centrists, and Macron’s 17-month-old Republic on the Move! party.
A final count including France’s overseas territories is expected in the coming days.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front, struggling with internal strife and muddled strategy since her second-place showing in the May presidential race, failed to land a single Senate seat.
French broadcasters’ projections forecast the Republicans having between 146 and 156 seats in the new Senate, while Macron’s party is set to have just about 22. That’s especially devastating after Macron overwhelmingly won May elections and his party clinched a large majority in June elections for the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
Macron himself didn’t comment on Sunday’s Senate embarrassment, but Republic on the Move! tried to look at the bright side.
It noted that the party won Senate seats for the first time since Macron founded it last year, in an attempt to attract voters tired of traditional parties and their failure to end chronic double-digit unemployment.
Republic on the Move! blamed the indirect voting system for its weak showing Sunday: Senators aren’t chosen by the public but by some 75,000 elected officials across the country.