Election of the Senate in France

The election of one third of the Senate in France was held on 23 September and the left wing parties strengthened their position mostly at the expense of smaller right wing subjects. The biggest relative gain was enjoyed by the French Communist Party and the Greens, the absolute profit by the Socialist Party, and Liberal Democracy suffered absolutely and relatively the biggest loss. Among Senate clubs the biggest absolute gains were enjoyed by the Socialists and the relative gains by the Communist, Republican and Citizen clubs whereas the Republicans and the Independents suffered the biggest absolute losses and the Democratic and Social European Rally suffered a relative loss. From the change of the Election Act made in 2000 it was the rule designed to ensure a larger proportion of women representation in the Senate that had a greater impact on the results: the number of women among the Senators has increased by 75% when compared to the state before the election.