Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and its allies secured a record 14 seats in France’s Senate, where the conservative right dominates. Nine RN senators were elected on Sunday, joining three who won seats in 2023. The Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), led by RN ally Éric Ciotti, won two seats.
The RN has quadrupled its Senate representation from the three seats it held after the 2023 election and, for the first time, crossed the 10-seat threshold needed to form a parliamentary group. RN president Jordan Bardella said the party’s senators would form a group with UDR allies. Le Pen called the result a “historic victory” and said it exceeded expectations.
The Senate has 348 seats. Local elected officials choose senators, with half of the upper house renewed every three years; each senator serves a six-year term. The far-right party, then still called the National Front, first entered the Senate with two seats in 2014 and won three in 2023.