Without an absolute majority, no candidate for the Perchoir of the National Assembly is certain to be elected. Behind the scenes, LR is busy working on the Annie Genevard case, with a view to a potential coalition with the Macron camp.
The name of the next president of the National Assembly will be known this Thursday, July 18. And there are many candidates to take up residence in the Perchoir. If Yaël Braun-Pivet is to date the only candidate for re-election in the presidential camp, the party executives would have finally discussed during a lunch a potential primary according to information from Le Figaro, to determine the name of their candidate. A formula to which the main interested party does not oppose. Problem, the allies of Horizons and MoDem refuse to participate, and could in return, present candidates in the vote on Thursday. As a reminder, the President of the National Assembly is elected by the majority of deputies while the Prime Minister is appointed by sole decision of the President of the Republic. However, without an absolute majority, the outcome of the election of the occupant of the Perchoir is more open than the list of possible names for Matignon is long, even if in both cases coalitions favor the chances of being chosen. This is also why the lower house of Parliament remains highly coveted.
LR MP for Doubs Annie Genevard is officially a candidate for the presidency of the National Assembly, subject to validation by her group, La Droite républicaine, chaired by Laurent Wauquiez. “I can be the third way. I think I have proven myself in leading debates. All political groups have recognized this. I have a certain firmness that has never prevented speech from being expressed freely in the chamber,” the woman who has already held the position several times, from 2017 to 2022 as 1st vice-president of the National Assembly, told France 3 Franche-Comté. “If we want a coalition with LR, we have to pay them dearly,” a deputy told France Info. Behind the scenes, the maneuvers to try to elect an LR figure and outline the contours of a possible coalition are intensifying, but “we have to go slowly so as not to alienate them, not to give them the impression that their hands are tied,” continues the same MP on the subject of the Macron camp.
On the left, “there is no hard point” regarding the name to propose to hold the hammer at the Palais Bourbon, according to the words of Olivier Faure (PS). This is why the leaders of the New Popular Front groups (PS, PCF, LFI and EELV) must meet this Tuesday to bring out a personality. The President of the National Assembly, who occupies the fourth most important position in the Republic, will have a central role in this new legislature, as the chamber is not dominated by a majority bloc. The debates in the Assembly will be decisive for each text and the discussions to obtain majorities may be stormy; Yaël Braun-Pivet’s successor will therefore have the task of ensuring that the balances within the Assembly are respected. A position of responsibility that is appealing to many deputies. Which ones?
Yaël Braun-Pivet, candidate for re-election for the presidential camp
Member of Parliament for Yvelines since 2017 and elected President of the National Assembly in 2022, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who was not in favor of dissolving the Assembly, hopes to be able to regain her place in the Perchoir. “Obviously I have to discuss it with my political group and the partners of the majority. But that is my wish,” she had slipped on France Inter July 9. And to add to that France 2 : “For two years, I have shown that I was capable of managing an Assembly without a majority”. The MP would have the support of Emmanuel Macron to present herself as a candidate of the presidential camp, unlike in 2022 when the head of state preferred the minister Roland Lescure. Yaël Braun-Pivet and Emmanuel Macron would even have, according to The Parisianmentioned contacts made with LR elected officials to ensure their support on the day of the vote. But Laurent Wauquiez, president of the LR group in the Assembly, has closed the door to government coalitions, so why would he support the candidate from the presidential camp?
Supported by the right or not, Yaël Braun-Pivet’s candidacy and victory are far from convincing certain members of the presidential camp. “She thinks we can win, even if it means having the votes of the RN. But how can we explain that we won the presidency of the Assembly when we lost the election? She has to accept that it’s not her,” confided an Ensemble elected official to the Parisian media. This is why a primary to which she would submit could take place.
“She wants this primary, which is written into the group’s statutes, to be held on Wednesday morning,” her entourage told Le Figaro. The newspaper informs us that Gabriel Attal consulted the head of the Horizons group, Laurent Marcangeli, and that of the MoDem, Marc Fesneau. Same story on both sides: a reflection on presenting a candidate to face Yaël Braun-Pivet for the Perchoir. The name of the Val-d’Oise MP Naïma Moutchou is mentioned at Horizons, the ex-ministers Geneviève Darrieussecq and Philippe Vigier are cited, as is Marc Fesneau for the MoDem. In the event of a third round, the name of Valérie Létard, centrist of the Liot group is mentioned in Macronie as “plan B” in the columns of Le Figaro.
A “common” and ecological candidacy for the New Popular Front?
While it is busy finding a consensus on the name of a possible Prime Minister, the New Popular Front (NFP) has another urgent matter before July 18: it is necessary to “agree immediately on a common candidacy for the presidency of the National Assembly” declared the coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, on BFMTV July 15. The left-wing union therefore wants a common candidate, but will it have as much trouble finding a profile that is unanimously supported as it did for Matignon? Perhaps not. The rebellious elected official assured that his party is “ready for this candidacy not to come from La France insoumise”. The socialists, also fussy about the name of the candidate for Matignon, have not yet expressed themselves. But it is rumored that Boris Vallaud, president of the socialist group in the National Assembly, is projecting himself to the Perchoir.
However, it is the names of the two Green elected officials that come up most often. Sandrine Rousseau was the first to express her views on the presidency of the Assembly at the microphone of South Radio : “I think I would respect democratic balances much more than has been done so far.” But it would be MP Cyrielle Chatelain who would have the NFP’s favor. “Chatelain emerges as a consensus candidate. She constitutes a point of balance between the socialist and the Insoumis. If it’s Chatelain, we have more chances than if it’s Panot” according to the analysis of an Ecologist at Parisian. On Tuesday, July 16, the Isère MP was just re-elected as head of the environmentalist group. She describes herself as a “possible” NFP candidate for the presidency of the National Assembly. She also reiterated her “attachment” to a left-wing candidacy for the Perchoir. But this left-wing candidate will necessarily come from a political force other than the one that will send a personality to Matignon. The problem is that no name has been set for the moment and discussions could remain on hold until a consensus is found for the Assembly.
Another name has slipped into the list of options being considered, that of the communist André Chassaigne. The Puy-de-Dôme MP confirmed that his name was circulating at theHumanityaccording to him the arguments in its favor are “[sa] knowledge of the institution, experience related to [son] seniority, but also [sa] reputation as a group president who respects the parliamentary function and is open to dialogue.”
Charles de Courson, candidate “guarantor of the proper functioning” of the Assembly
A stranger to the three major political blocs – the presidential camp, the union of the left and the extreme right – Charles de Courson announced that he was a candidate for the presidency of the National Assembly and claims to be able “in this unprecedented and chaotic period” to be the “guarantor of the proper functioning, dignity and depth of the debates” without partisan attitude. The deputy who is starting his eighth term made a name for himself during the pension reform by tabling a motion of censure that nearly brought down the government, by nine votes. “The election of an independent, experienced and dialogue-oriented deputy would be a strong signal sent by the deputies to the French people” estimated Charles de Courson. But will he be supported by a majority of MPs? Several Macronist elected officials have made it known that MP Liot cannot count on their vote.
Sébastien Chenu, candidate expected for the National Rally
On the far right, it is the vice-president of the party and the former vice-president of the National Assembly who is expected to run for the presidency of the hemicycle: the deputy of the North, Sébastien Chenu. The National Rally will indeed be in the running for the Perchoir, but it has no illusions about its chances of victory. The party with the flame has fewer elected representatives than the NFP and the presidential camp and cannot count on any coalition to win votes.
How is the President of the National Assembly elected?
The 577 deputies of the National Assembly can be candidates for the presidency of the hemicycle and several have already expressed an interest in the Perchoir. All those who have made their candidacy official before Thursday, July 18 and the opening of the new legislature will have to submit to the votes of the elected representatives present and obtain the absolute majority of the votes cast to win. If necessary, a second round is organized under the same conditions with the possibility for certain candidates to withdraw. And if there again the absolute majority is not reached, a third round is planned and can be won with a simple relative majority.