The fascist Rassemblement National won the French Senate election. The election is seen as a mood test for the upcoming presidential election. There, numerous politicians are fighting for second place in the runoff election.

At yesterday's FrenchPartial electionof the Senate, the fascist Rassemblement National (RN) was able to achieve another election victory. The party received nine more mandates and can now form a parliamentary group with the ultra-right UDR, which has 14 senators. Previously, the RN only had three seats and therefore had no parliamentary group status. There are a total of 348 representatives in the French Senate.

Former party leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pendesignateddescribes the election success as a “historic victory” and speaks of a “spread of the Rassemblement National throughout the national territory”.

The Senate is not elected directly, but by around 150,000 politicians at local and regional levels for six years. Every three years some of the members are re-elected.

He has limited powers vis-à-vis the government and the French parliament, the National Assembly. He can also be overruled by the National Assembly in legislation. In the National Assembly, the RN has been the largest parliamentary group since 2024.

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Presidential election in April

The French Senate election is also seen as a mood test for the upcoming presidential election in seven months. In contrast to Germany, France has a presidential system of government. The president has a high level of decision-making power.

In the upcoming election in April, Marine Le Pen will run again after 2012, 2017 and 2022. In 2017 and 2022 she failed in the second round of voting against Emmanuel Macron of the liberal Renaissance party. Le Pen is currently well ahead of all other candidates in polls for the presidential election with over 30 percent.

However, in March 2025, Le Pen was sentenced to prison and banned from running for elections for embezzling EU funds. She laidRevisionagainst the judgment. This is the only way she can complete the election campaign without an ankle bracelet. A final verdict is unlikely to come until after the elections. However, as president she would enjoy immunity and the penalty would be waived.

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Will Mélenchon make it to the runoff?

Up to 30 other applicants will probably compete alongside her. After two terms in office, Emmanuel Macron is no longer allowed to stand for election. General Secretary Gabriel Attal is running for Macron's party. Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe from the center-right Horizons party is also considered a promising candidate. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder of the left-wing party La France insoumise (LFI), will also run again. He received the third-most votes in the 2012, 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.

Finally, Mélenchon put inSurveysstrong too. Accordingly, he could now consider himself to have a good chance of running against Le Pen in the runoff election. But not all parties have currently chosen their candidates. The social democratic parties, for example, are holding their primaries in October. The most promising candidate is European MP Raphaël Glucksmann from the Place Publique party.

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Former President Hollande could run again

A former president could also run again in the presidential election. The now 72-year-old François Hollande was president of the social democratic PS from 2012 to 2017. He began his presidency as a self-proclaimed opponent of high finance, but later in his presidency subsidized large corporations and relaxed labor laws.

Due to his high unpopularity, he did not run for president again in 2017. He returned to the French Parliament in 2024. According to surveys, he is now one of the ones againmost popularFrench politicians.

Hollande declared that he did not want to take part in the preliminary round of the social democratic parties in October. Just the endDecemberhe wants to announce his decision for or against running for office. His election program is aimed at the “broad middle of society” in order to prevent Le Pen from becoming president.

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