Against all expectations, the left won the absolute majority of seats in the Bureau of the National Assembly, its highest executive body, on the night of Friday to Saturday. The Bureau, chaired by Yaël Braun-Pivet, has a total of 22 members: six vice-presidents, three quaestors and 12 secretaries. This institution has significant powers over the functioning of the lower house.
With 12 representatives, the New Popular Front alone has an absolute majority, the rest of the seats being divided between the groups of the presidential camp (five), the Republican Right (three), and Liot’s independents (two).
A configuration which “will change the working atmosphere in the National Assembly a little”, affirmed the head of the deputies La France insoumise (LFI) Mathilde Panot after the vote, denouncing the sanctions against her group during the previous legislature, the most severe of which are proposed by this office.
Vice-presidential election disrupted
The vice-presidents (six) share with Yaël Braun-Pivet, who is both president of the National Assembly and the Bureau, the responsibility of presiding over sessions in the chamber from the famous “perch”. They assign the floor, ensure that debates run smoothly, settle certain disputes and have the power to impose sanctions on other deputies during these sessions.
They also participate in the Conference of Presidents of the Assembly, who decide, among other things, on the agenda for its work in the Chamber and each chair a delegation (for international activities, transparency, communication, etc.).
Their election was seriously disrupted on Friday by an incident in the first round. The ballot boxes contained more envelopes than voters, so the vote had to be cancelled and then reorganised.
The deputies ended up appointing: the former vice-president Naïma Moutchou (Horizons), the LFI-NFP deputies Clémence Guetté and Nadège Abomangoli, the deputies of the Republican Right group (ex-LR) Xavier Breton and Annie Genevard, as well as the resigning Minister of Industry Roland Lescure (Ensemble pour la République, ex-Renaissance).
A female trio for the quaestorship
The three members of the quaestorship hold the purse strings at the Palais Bourbon and have broad authority over the institution’s budget. “No new expenditure may be incurred without their prior opinion,” specifies the rules of the National Assembly.
They also have significant power in the administrative management of the institution and the position, already prestigious, is accompanied by certain material advantages, such as a reception apartment made available and additional allowances granted, like the other members of the Bureau.
The Assembly has chosen a female trio to carry out these functions – “I think it’s a first”, welcomed Yaël Braun-Pivet. Christine Pires Beaune (PS), Brigitte Klinkert (Ensemble pour la République) and Michèle Tabarot (La Droite républicaine), three experienced elected officials, will assume these functions.
Secretaries, supervisors of key operations
The 12 secretaries of the Bureau supervise the voting operations and the counting of certain ballots, either when an electronic vote has not worked, or when the form of a ballot requires a voting operation by individual ballot. This is the case in particular for the famous motions of censure, intended to overthrow the government.
Less prestigious on paper than the other positions, they nevertheless also allow the groups that have obtained them to have a place in the Bureau of the Assembly and to participate in its decisions.
The deputies chose as secretaries: Stéphane Peu and Mereana Reid Arbelot (Democratic and Republican Left), Sébastien Peytavie, Sabrina Sebaihi and Eva Sas (all three members of the Ecologist and Social group), Gabriel Amard and Farida Amrani (both LFI-NFP), Iñaki Echaniz and Sophie Pantel (both PS), Lise Magnier (Horizons), Christophe Naegelen and Laurent Panifous (Liot).