France: Macron’s Brown-Pivet re-elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives

Yael Braun-Pivet, from President Macron’s party, was re-elected President of the National Assembly in France after receiving 220 votes and obtaining a relative majority of its members.

André Chassini, of the left-wing New People’s Front, came in second with 207 votes, while Sébastien Senault, of the far-right National Alert Party led by Marine Le Pen, came in third with 141 votes.

It was no surprise that the first place change occurred in the second round of the election for the new president of the French National Assembly, in which there were four candidates compared to six who had failed in the first round. No candidate obtained an absolute majority of the members of the body, so the third and final round was held.

📣 With 220 votes in the third round, Yael Braun-Piveh (@yaelbraunveit), a deputy for the 5th constituency of Yvelines, is elected President of the National Assembly. #direct pic.twitter.com/T6LhIsMV4B

– National Assembly (@AssembleeNat) July 18, 2024

What happened in the first two rounds?

In the second round, outgoing president Yael Braun-Pivet, from President Macron’s party, came in first with 210 votes. Those who voted in the first round for Philippe Jovin of the Republicans and Naima Moutsou of the Horizons, who withdrew their candidacies and did not advance to the second round, apparently voted for her. In the first round, Yael Braun-Pivet came in third with 124 votes.

André Chassigny, of the left-wing New Popular Front, came in second with 202 votes, up from 200 in the first round, while Sébastien Senaud, on behalf of Marine Le Pen, of the far-right, came in third with 143 votes, up from 142 in the first round. Finally, independent MP Charles de Courson came in fourth with 12 votes, and announced that he would not go to the third round.

French centrists say the re-election of the parliament speaker means the prime minister “must be from their ranks.” President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist allies say Brown-Pivet’s win shows their bloc has a slim majority, suggesting the next French prime minister “must be from their ranks.” France has many problems, with no consensus yet on a mutually acceptable prime minister, following the resignation of Gabriel Attal.

However, in the face of the government impasse, the election of the President of the National Assembly was a formal procedure.