French politics showed no signs of easing on Friday following the re-election of Yaël Braun-Pivet as speaker of the National Assembly, RFI reports.
Braun-Pivet, who held the post in the previous parliament, won 220 votes on Thursday night in the third round of voting, fending off a challenge from veteran left-wing candidate André Chassagne and Sébastien Chenu of the National Rally party. Chassagne, 74, denounced the vote as a deal between President Emmanuel Macron’s party and the Republican Party. Chassaigne said in an interview on the French radio station franceinfo on Friday:
“The Republicans, through an alliance with Madame Yaël Braun-Pivet, voted for this president in exchange for positions of responsibility in the National Assembly that will be far above how much weight they actually carry.”
Chenu said:
“It’s a Pyrrhic victory. It is against nature … between Macron’s supporters and the Republican party who got themselves elected a fortnight ago by saying they were the opposition to Emmanuel Macron and they have just voted for Yaël Braun-Pivet. It circumvents the will of the voters.”
During a short speech Thursday night, Braun-Pivet, 53, said she realised she was under pressure to ensure unity after parliamentary elections failed to produce a party with a majority in the 577-seat lower house. She told MPs:
“What we can say to each other is that we have an immense responsibility. There are major issues at stake and our decisions, our actions can change our lives. We have to listen to these messages from the voters and come up with solutions, using new methods. This assembly is more representative of the French people, but also more divided. It is necessary to find compromises.”
Macron took to social media on Thursday night to offer his congratulations. He said:
“All those who know you know that you will ensure respect for the plurality of opinions and the expression of the diversity of sensibilities.”
Braun-Pivet, who served as Minister for Overseas Territories, became the first woman Speaker when she was chosen to host and moderate a parliamentary debate in June 2022. Bidding will continue on Friday to select six deputy speakers for Speaker Braun-Pivet, as well as 12 secretaries and three financial administrators. Each parliamentary group has the right to nominate candidates for these posts, as well as for the chairmanships of eight standing parliamentary committees, ranging from finance and foreign affairs to defence and culture.
Left-wing leaders have called for the far-right to be denied positions of power in parliament, and some centrists have said they will seek to block candidates from the Rassemblement Nationale or the leftist France Unbowed party. Such positions violate the convention that the leadership of the National Assembly is usually made up of representatives of different parliamentary groups.
The first vice-president and at least one financial administrator traditionally go to opposition representatives, and the rules explicitly require the opposition to chair the finance committee. Committee seats, meanwhile, are allocated proportionally among the groups. With more than 140 seats, the Rassemblement Nationale leads the third largest group in the assembly and has already said it wants the top post on the finance committee.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of the party Debout la France (France Arise), commented on the results of the vote on X:
“The French…! With the re-election of Madame Brown-Pivet thanks to the votes of the LR MPs, the masks have been pulled off. The French wanted to change things, but in the end nothing changed….. This pretence won’t last long. Let’s not give up! Join Debout la France.”
