France's far-right National Rally makes record gains in Senate elections

France's far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies secured a record 14 seats in Sunday's Senate elections, roughly quadrupling the party's presence in the 348-seat upper chamber. The result marked the first time RN cleared the 10-seat threshold required to form its own parliamentary group in the Senate.

RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen described the outcome as a "historic victory," writing on X that the results had exceeded expectations. According to an AFP tally, nine new RN senators were elected on Sunday, joining three who had already won seats in 2023. Two additional seats went to candidates from the allied Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), led by Eric Ciotti.

RN president Jordan Bardella said the party's senators would form a joint group with their UDR allies. Ciotti left the mainstream right-wing Republicans (LR) party in 2024 after calling for an alliance with the far right.

Senators serve six-year terms and are chosen by local elected officials, with half the chamber renewed every three years. RN first entered the Senate in 2014 with two seats, when it was still known as the National Front, before rising to three seats in 2023.

According to initial results, the right, centre and Socialists remain the three dominant forces in the upper chamber. Gerard Larcher, the LR politician who has led the Senate for more than a decade, is expected to be re-elected next week at age 77. The hard-left France Unbowed party won a Senate seat for the first time.

Le Pen is now weighing what could be her strongest chance yet at the presidency, with a first round of voting scheduled for April next year as centrist President Emmanuel Macron prepares to step down. RN became the largest single party in the National Assembly after Macron called snap elections in 2024, though it fell short of an outright majority.