SVE NEWS & FRANCE24.COM Sharing Series — French National Assembly re-elects Macron ally Braun-Pivet as head of parliament

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said that the re-election of centrist National Assembly Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet will ensure “the expression of a diversity of sensibilities”.

“Everyone that knows you knows that you will ensure respect for diversity of opinions and the expression of a diversity of sensibilities. [Fulfilling] a republican responsibility,” wrote Macron on X.

Braun-Pivet won 220 votes in the third and final round of voting in the parliament, besting French Communist Party MP André Chassaigne by 13 votes.

Lawmakers in France’s National Assembly on Thursday handed centrist politician Yaël Braun-Pivet, a loyal ally of President Emmanuel Macron, a second term as speaker in a tight win over the candidate from the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance.

Braun-Pivet scored 220 votes while her main rival for the job, veteran French Communist Party lawmaker André Chassaigne, received 207 votes in a close race that required three rounds of voting.

She received the support of Macron’s centrist allies and of some conservative lawmakers seeking to prevent leftist contender Chassaigne from getting the job.

The Assembly was meeting for the first time since this month’s snap legislative election in which the NFP unexpectedly finished first, ahead of Macron’s centrists and Marine Le Pen’s far right, but no one group won a majority.

Lawmakers in France’s National Assembly on Thursday elected incumbent Yaël Braun-Pivet, a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc, as president of the legislative body for a second five-year term.

National Assembly lawmakers are voting in round two to elect a speaker after a first round that saw the French Communist Party’s André Chaissaigne win 200 votes, outpacing the far-right National Rally’s Sébastien Chenu at 142 votes and outgoing Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet at 124.

To win the second round, a candidate must gain an absolute majority of 289 votes in the 577-seat legislative body. If the voting continues to a third and final round, a candidate needs only a simple majority to win.

Economist and climate specialist Laurence Tubiana said she was ready to become France’s prime minister in an interview with AFP on Thursday.

“I am asking for nothing, but it’s the moment of engagement and it fits me,” said the 73-year-old, who was an architect of the 2015 Paris climate accord. “When there is a political crisis, we must respond. There is a need for a person on the left, and if it must be me, I’ll do it,” she added.

Tubiana, who is politically unaffiliated, had the backing of the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party and the Greens for the premiership, but the hard-left France Unbowed party, a key member of the left-wing New Popular Front, rejected her candidacy over the weekend.

The National Assembly vote for a new parliamentary speaker is likely to take place in three rounds, starting at 3pm Paris time. Alliances are bound to be struck between rounds, with some candidates pulling out.

Votes are confidential. To win in the first round, a candidate would need an absolute majority of votes cast, which is unlikely to happen.

The process is the same for the second round. In a third round, the candidate with the most votes – a simple majority – wins.

Sophie Binet, general secretary of the hard-left CGT, has justified her trade union’s call for a demonstration outside the National Assembly while newly elected MPs meet for a first parliamentary session.

“We are at a crucial moment and we know that there are a certain number of temptations, notably on [President] Emmanuel Macron’s part, to pretend that the [legislative] vote did not take place and to have a technical government that is in line with his policies,” said Binet in an interview with BFM TV Thursday.

The CGT chief highlighted “two messages” of France’s snap legislative election results: that French voters support a “Republican front” against the far right and that their votes were a “sanction” against Macron and his socio-economic policies.

Thomas Vacheron of the influential French hard-left CGT trade union says demonstrations calling for the formation of a leftist New Popular Front government are scheduled for noon in 80 towns and cities across France. Thursday’s protests, led by the CGT and supported by the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, coincide with the first parliamentary session of the new National Assembly.

Yaël Braun-Pivet

Outgoing parliamentary speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet is endorsed by President Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance and is seeking a second term as National Assembly president, positioning herself as a candidate with a two-year track record at the helm of the lower house.

Naïma Moutchou

Within the centrist camp, Yaël Braun-Pivet is being challenged by Naïma Moutchou of the centre-right Horizons party.

André Chassaigne

After days of negotiations, Communist party member André Chassaigne has been nominated as the leftist New Popular Front alliance’s consensus candidate.

Charles de Courson

Charles de Courson is a candidate from the centrist LIOT (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories) parliamentary group.

Sébastien Chenu

National Rally vice president Sébastien Chenu is a candidate for his far-right party.

Annie Genevard or Philippe Juvin?

The centre-right Les Républicans had not decided, as of Wednesday evening, between Annie Genevard and Philippe Juvin.

To further complicate the proceedings, any MP can declare his or her candidacy at the last minute, even between voting rounds, adding surprise and drama to the parliamentary session.

Days ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Wednesday that the deeply divided country is “in a quagmire” after snap legislative elections produced a fragmented parliament.

“We are in the middle of a quagmire,” said Le Pen on the eve of the first National Assembly session.

Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate and a leading far-right figure in France, blamed French President Emmanuel Macron and the left for the post-election chaos.

She criticised Macron for failing to explain when he plans to replace Attal.

“The French people do not know what is happening,” Le Pen said in an interview with BFM TV.

She also accused the leftist New Popular Front, which has not as yet chosen a prime ministerial candidate, of doing “enormous harm to democracy”.