Since the departure of several elected representatives of the National Assembly to the Barnier government, the battle for key positions at the Palais Bourbon has resumed. This Wednesday, October 2, the socialist deputies denounced the election of the RN deputy Sébastien Chenu at the head of a commission, thanks to the contribution of votes from the presidential camp, in contradiction according to them with the republican front intervened between the two rounds legislative elections.
“What a shame! Preferring the RN to a socialist after the Republican front in July? You were born before shame, colleagues”, reacted on MP Arthur Delaporte, spokesperson for the group.
Sébastien Chenu was elected Wednesday president of the commission responsible for clearing the accounts of the Assembly, facing the socialist Philippe Brun. After benefiting from the vote in his favor from the MoDem deputy Philippe Vigier and the Horizons deputy Félicie Girard, Sébastien Chenu obtained five votes, like Philippe Brun, and was elected on the basis of age. “I chose the most experienced. It is normal that all political groups have representatives in the Assembly,” explained Philippe Vigier to AFP. At the Horizons group, “we assume we have given a voice to the RN”. In July “we deplored that the RN had no position of responsibility (at the Palais Bourbon, Editor’s note). It is one thing to exclude the RN from the governance of the country, it is another to reject the RN of the democratic functioning of the Assembly”, underlined the entourage of the president of the group Laurent Marcangeli.
“We are tired of excommunicating people”
Sébastien Chenu also took advantage of the abstention of MP David Habib (Liot). Questioned by AFP, David Habib indicated that a deputy from his group, Christophe Naegelen, had asked him not to participate in the vote due to the refusal of the PS to support Liot’s candidate for the overseas commission, Estelle Youssouffa. What Christophe Naegelen contested, while justifying David Habib’s abstention: “He is tired of excommunicating people from positions in the people’s house for this or that sensitivity”, he said.
The PS more generally suspects an agreement between the RN and the Macronists, while “three Macronists were elected president of the women’s rights delegation, the children’s rights delegation and the European Affairs Committee thanks to the withdrawal ‘timely’ of the RN candidate in the third round and the “mysterious” contribution of votes to the Macronist candidate”.
Questioned by AFP Sébastien Chenu contested any agreement of this type. “Each time we tried to block the worst (…) when we ourselves could not win,” he justified. Same denial from the Renaissance group. “The RN prefer to vote for us rather than for the left because our committee presidents respect the weight of each person in the office and in the distribution of reports and missions, unlike the left,” underlined this source.