PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) – French far-right leaders said their party, the National Rally, and its right-wing allies won enough seats in Sunday’s indirect election of senators to form their own caucus.
It was the first time the party had cleared the 10-seat threshold for a Senate caucus, as it prepares for a 2027 presidential race in which opinion polls show it in the lead for the first round.
• “The results have exceeded our expectations,” Marine Le Pen, the party’s leader and presidential candidate, said in a post on X.
• Le Pen is seeking to win the presidency in the two-round election in the spring, but previous attempts by the far right to reach the country’s highest elected office have repeatedly been blocked.
• Of the 348 seats in the upper chamber, 178 were up for grabs in Sunday’s election. The party did not say how many seats it had won.
• Senators are elected by lawmakers in the National Assembly and local elected representatives.
• Group leaders are able to request votes, among other powers.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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