President, vice-presidents, quaestors… What is the purpose of these key positions coveted by many deputies in the Assembly?

From Thursday to Saturday, the deputies of the new Assembly will battle to win the most strategic and prestigious positions in the institution.

It’s a bit like the third round of the legislative elections. From Thursday, July 18, at 3 p.m., and until Saturday, the 577 deputies choose from among themselves the elected representatives who will occupy the key positions in the new National Assembly. Certain responsibilities, such as the presidency of the Palais-Bourbon, are attributed by a secret ballot. in one, two or three rounds if necessary, to decide between the candidates.

Others are negotiated between the different parties represented. If the discussions do not succeed, there remains the option of voting, a probable prospect in this very divided hemicycle. Around thirty highly coveted functions are at stake.

The Presidency of the Assembly

It is also called “the perch”, because it is on this chair installed overlooking the hemicycle that the president of the Lower House sits. It is also the fourth personage of the State, after the President of the Republic, the head of government and the president of the Senate.

His role is both to represent the institution and to ensure its proper functioning. He chairs the most important sessions, such as questions to the government or those on the most delicate reforms. It was Yaël Braun-Pivet, the first woman elected to the perch in 2022, who notably chaired the review session of the very sensitive immigration law end of 2023.

To access this seat, one must be elected by the deputies, by an absolute majority in the first two rounds or by a relative majority in a third round. If the vote is often very disputed, it is because the position is as renowned (with allowances and official housing as a key) as it is strategic. It is the presidency of the Assembly that has the power to decide on the constitutionality of the amendments tabled by the deputies. Under the previous legislature, the president, from the presidential party, had thus rejected an amendment on the repeal of the pension reform.

Yaël Braun-Pivet is once again a candidate for the presidency. She will notably face the Republican MP for Hauts-de-Seine Philippe Juvin, and the centrist from Marne Charles de Courson, representing the Liot group. The Horizons group, an ally of the Macronists, is presenting Naïma Moutchou, elected in Val-d’Oise, while the MoDem has chosen to support the outgoing president. The National Rally (RN) will submit the candidacy of the MP for the North Sébastien Chenu, and the New Popular Front has agreed on that of the communist MP for Puy-du-Dôme André Chassaigne.

Being president of the Palais-Bourbon also gives the right to appoint one of the members of the Constitutional Council, two to the High Council of the Judiciary, or others within several independent administrative authorities, such as the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life.

The role of the office

Once the perch is assigned on Thursday, the deputies will have to choose the following day six vice-presidents, three quaestors and twelve secretaries to make up the bureau of the National Assembly. This body, headed by the presidency of the Assembly, governs the functioning of the institution. It enforces or interprets the internal regulations, sometimes imposing sanctions on certain elected officials. For example, it was the office that imposed a temporary exclusion and financial penalties on the rebellious deputy Sébastien Delogu for waving a Palestinian flag in public sessionor to the RN elected official Grégoire de Fournas for racist remarks.

The bureau can also reject bills proposed by deputies if it considers them financially inadmissible, and approve or not the creation of friendship or study groups. In May, it thus rejected the birth of a France-Palestine friendship group.

It is still the office that chooses the ethics officer of the Assembly, responsible for monitoring the ethics of deputies, and who can lift the parliamentary immunity of an elected official. It recently did so in the case of Damien Abad in May 2023, so that he can be heard by the courts as part of of an investigation into accusations of rape against him.

Key positions within the office

In total, the bureau has, in addition to the president of the Assembly, 21 members chosen by the presidents of the groups, who must distribute the positions using a points system. Each group is awarded points according to its weight on the benches of the Palais-Bourbon. It can then obtain certain key positions, such as a vice-presidency (two points), a quaestorship (2.5 points) or a secretariat (one point). In the absence of an agreement, these positions are submitted to a vote by all the deputies.

• Six vice-presidents. They share the presidency of the sessions at the Assembly. Each is also at the head of a delegation of the office (responsible for international activities, communication and the press, heritage, etc.), details the institution’s website. They must reflect “the political configuration” of the hemicycle and respect parity, specifies the rules of the Assembly. Under the previous legislature, there were five vice-presidents for one vice-president. As for the plurality, there were two from the RN, one from La France insoumise (LFI), one socialist, one MoDem and one from the Horizons party.

• Three quaestors. They are responsible for validating the institution’s budget. Like the President of the Assembly, they receive a substantial additional allowance and are entitled to a company apartment. One of the quaestor positions is automatically reserved for an opposition group: in 2022, it was the LR deputy for Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti who obtained it, while the other two returned to the presidential camp.

• Twelve secretaries. Their role is to assist the chairmen, and in particular to monitor the votes and the counting of certain ballots.

The chairs of the standing committees

Once the bureau is formed on Friday, the group presidents will send their troops to the eight standing committees on Saturday: cultural affairs and education, economic affairs, foreign affairs, social affairs, defense, sustainable development, finance and laws.

They study, amend and examine the texts of laws before they are debated in the chamber, each in their own field. They must also monitor the government’s action and the application of laws. In this context, they can hear ministers or personalities of their choice. Each deputy can only be a member of one standing committee. After being divided up, the elected representatives elect their committee presidency.

LOne of the most strategic is that of the Finance Committee, who can control the state budget and whose president has the power to request the opening of a parliamentary commission of inquiry. Reserved for an opposition elected official, and previously occupied by LFI MP Eric Coquerel, this presidency is now claimed by the RN, with 126 MPs.