France’s far-right National Rally party (RN) and its allies have won a record 14 seats in the right-dominated Senate in the election, effectively quadrupling their numbers in the 348-seat chamber just months before the presidential election. RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen called the results a “historic victory” after they were announced on Sunday. “The results have exceeded our expectations,” he said. It was the first time that the party exceeded the 10-seat threshold to be able to form a group in the Senate. Local elected officials vote for new senators for half of the upper house every three years, each to serve a six-year term. The far-right party first entered the Senate with two seats in 2014, when it was known as the National Front, and won three seats in 2023. Le Pen sees her best chance yet to come to power in elections scheduled for a first round in April next year, when centrist President Emmanuel Macron steps down. “It is a historic victory and an important milestone in the formation of a group in the Senate for the first time,” he said on RN president Jordan Bardella (C) poses with supporters in La Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, on Sunday as the far-right won a record 14 seats in the Senate election. Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images Ciotti resigned from the right-wing Republicans (LR) party in 2024 after calling for an alliance with the far right. Gerard Larcher, LR president of the upper house for more than a decade, is expected to be re-elected next week. Socialists from the right, center and left seemed set to remain the three main forces in the upper house, according to initial results. The far-left France Insoumise party won a seat for the first time. Le Pen’s anti-immigration party emerged as the largest party in the lower house National Assembly after Macron called early elections in 2024, although it fell short of a majority.
