visualize how the deputies voted

During the vote organized following a debate on France’s support for Kiev, the government’s strategy received a majority of votes in favor, despite the opposition of rebels and communists, and the abstention of the National Rally. .

With 372 “for”, 99 “against” and 101 abstentions, France’s support for Ukraine was, unsurprisingly, approved by the National Assembly during a symbolic vote on Tuesday March 12 in the early evening. The deputies were called to vote on the bilateral agreement signed on February 16 between France and Ukraine. Although the ranks of the hemicycle were sparse during the preceding debate, almost all of the elected officials (572 out of 577) ultimately took part in the vote.

The issue of this symbolic ballot, organized at the initiative of the executive, lay less in its outcome than in the distribution of votes between the parliamentary groups. Three months before the European elections, the presidential majority was counting on this vote to act as a moment of truth after Emmanuel Macron’s controversial comments on sending troops to Ukraine.

As they had announced, the rebels and the communists unanimously voted against. The National Rally deputies all abstained, in accordance with Marine Le Pen’s instructions. Elected officials from other groups overwhelmingly voted in favor. Only one vote was missing from the presidential camp, that of a MoDem MP who abstained. And he was able to count, among others, on the support of the Liot group, the socialists, the ecologists (with one exception) and the majority of the Republicans, of whom 11 deputies still abstained.

These results reflect the debates, which mainly saw opposition from the majority on one side, and the National Rally and deputies from radical left groups on the other. “Vote against” support for Ukraine means sending the message that France “turn your back” to its history, “to abstain is to flee” while “we are at a tipping point”, warned Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Tuesday, introducing the debate. These comments were aimed in particular at the National Rally group, which had announced that it wanted to abstain.

The left in disarray

“Either we are pro-Macron, or we are accused of being pro-Putin”, replied Marine Le Pen. The president of the far-right group denounced the government’s strategy which, according to her, consists of putting “an international crisis (…) in the service of a short-term electoral agenda”.

On the left, the votes show a clear division between rebels and communists, on the one hand, and socialists and ecologists, on the other. “France does not have to lock itself into a Western, Atlanticist camp”, denounced the rebellious MP Arnaud Le Gall. In the socialist ranks, Boris Vallaud on the contrary judged that he “We must help Ukraine to hold on”while criticizing the “handle effects” by Emmanuel Macron. On the right, the president of the LR group, Olivier Marleix, deplored “small electoral tactics” of the head of state, but showed his support for kyiv.

After the National Assembly, France’s support for Ukraine will also be debated in the Senate on Wednesday, giving rise to another symbolic vote. Thursday, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, will be interviewed on France 2 and TF1, at “8 p.m.”, on this same subject.