Far-right secures enough seats to form bloc in French Senate

France’s far-right National Rally party and its allies have achieved a historic breakthrough in the French Senate, surpassing the threshold needed to form a parliamentary group for the first time in the party’s history, following Sunday’s indirect elections.

Party leaders said the results showed they had secured enough seats to form a bloc in elections that renewed 178 out of the Senate’s 348 seats. A minimum of 10 members is required to establish a parliamentary group.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally and a candidate in the next presidential election, said on X that “the results exceeded our expectations.”

Forming a group in the Senate marks a new milestone for the party, which previously held just three seats before Sunday’s vote. Preliminary results showed the party winning nine new seats, raising its total to 12 and surpassing the threshold needed to form a group.

The new bloc is expected to include members from the National Rally and its allies in the Union of the Right for the Republic, led by Éric Ciotti.

French senators are elected indirectly by an electoral college of lawmakers and local officials, with members serving six-year terms.

This development comes ahead of the French presidential election scheduled for spring 2027, in which Le Pen is seeking to run for a third time after previous far-right attempts to win the presidency failed. Current polls show Le Pen leading in first-round voting intentions, though these figures reflect public opinion and are not election results.

Senate parliamentary group leaders hold several powers, including the ability to request votes, giving the new bloc an institutional presence in the upper house of the French parliament.