Is this change in the voting method a good idea?

In “La Tribune Dimanche” Emmanuel Macron believes that “introducing a proportional element” to the legislative elections “would be good for democracy”. An institutional subject that divides his camp.

Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday May 5 in an interview with There Tribune Sunday favorable to the introduction of a dose of proportionalism in the legislative voting method. This was also one of candidate Macron’s proposals in 2017 as in 2022. It would be “good for democracy”, he said, hoping that a parliamentary majority would emerge. For now, it is the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet who is in charge. She proposes that deputies be elected by proportional representation in the departments which designate at least 11, that is to say the most populous such as Paris, the North or Bouches-du-Rhône. In total, this would concern 152 deputies, the other 425 remaining designated by the majority voting method.

This proposal is variously received by the majority. The boss of MoDem, François Bayrou, is very favorable but the Renaissance group is very divided. Many warn against distancing elected officials from their territory and giving a helping hand to apparatchiks appointed by parties to the detriment of local roots. An argument taken up by most LR deputies. In fact, it is within the rest of the opposition that we find the most fervent supporters of proportional representation, and sometimes even full proportional representation, among the Insoumis, the Socialists, the Greens and even the National Rally. .

Proportionality requires dialogue and compromise

This change in the voting method is not necessarily a good idea. First, the argument for fairer representation is undermined by the current composition of the Assembly: no absolute majority and ten different groups in total. The 2022 legislative elections have already produced a very fragmented representation, worthy of proportional representation. And for two years, even if most of the bills have been voted on, the electric atmosphere of the debates, the repeated recourse to 49-3 and the repeated motions of censure show that parliamentarians have not moved forward on the path dialogue and the search for compromise, two imperatives that an assembly designated by proportional representation undoubtedly requires.

Basically, this reform would very likely really block the legislative process. Unless she has another objective. By strengthening the representation of oppositions, proportional representation makes it possible to limit the tidal waves that the majority voting method often causes in legislative elections. And in this case to limit the scale of a far-right wave that many fear in 2027.