Europe · updated 2h ago · 3 min read
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Forms Senate Group With Éric Ciotti’s UDR
RN and UDR will form a Senate group for the first time in its history. The election produced 14 RN seats, enabling the group in the 348-seat Senate.
13 outlets told this the same way.
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1 of 2 outlets skipped it: RN senators total 9, plus 2 allies elected from UDR.
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RN wins Senate group
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally secured enough seats in the French Senate to form a parliamentary group for the first time in the party’s history, after partial elections held on Sunday, September 27. Jordan Bardella announced on X that the RN “will form, with its allies from the president Éric Ciotti's UDR, a group in the Senate,” and he framed the result as “a historic victory and a major milestone.” Marine Le Pen told supporters that “The results go beyond what we could have hoped for; the breakthrough is general,” and she said the senators would serve as an “essential megaphone for the presidential campaign to defend the voice of the territories.”
The 93,000 electors, essentially mayors and departmental councilors, were called to renew 178 of the 348 seats of the upper chamber, and the RN’s move came seven months before the presidential elections for which Marine Le Pen starts as a favorite. Public Sénat said the RN reached the threshold of 10 senators after “11 new senators elected,” and it described the RN-UDR group as ending the night with 14 senators.
Allies, rivals, and voices
Éric Ciotti said the RN-UDR results constituted “a new institutional translation of the alliance concluded with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella,” and he said the UDR and RN elected officials had enough senators to form a joint group at the Luxembourg Palace. Gérard Larcher said the Senate must remain the “assembly of a peaceful debate of reason and reflection,” after the RN-UDR alliance secured for the first time a group and the Insoumis entered the upper chamber. Jean-Luc Mélenchon said “A good omen for 2027,” after La France Insoumise announced the election of Gabriel Amard in the Rhône, and he described the entry as “Tonight, La France insoumise returns to the Senate!”
Sébastien Chenu celebrated the group as “There is no longer a glass ceiling,” and he added that the result was “a boost for the presidential.” Le HuffPost said the RN already had three representatives in the Senate, and it described the formation of a group as giving RN and UDR members more speaking time and additional financial resources.
What the group changes
The RN-UDR group’s creation would bring “resources,” including premises, public funding to hire staff, greater visibility with current affairs questions in government, and speaking time during debates in the chamber. The group would gain political weight that allows it to act as a negotiating force on texts, and it described an “inquiry or information missions” role as part of the Senate’s prerogatives. The RN’s advance came seven months before the presidential elections for which Marine Le Pen starts as a favorite, and the senators were described as a tool to defend the voice of the territories in public policies.
DIE WELT said the Senate election success gave the RN “new political possibilities,” including rights in the Senate such as speaking time, posing questions to the government, and setting the agenda. Prensa Latina said the elections were “the last test at the polls before the presidential elections of April 18, 2027,” and it described the electoral college of 93,000 voters as selecting senators for another six years.