Yaël Braun-Pivet’s proposal to establish a dose of proportional divides the political class

Yaël Braun-Pivet will discuss Tuesday in the Senate, notably with Gérard Larcher, his proposal to introduce a dose of proportionalism in the legislative elections. Who are the supporters and opponents of such reform?

After seeing the presidents of the groups in the Assembly, the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet meets the President of the Senate on Tuesday April 30. The idea she wants to submit is to elect the deputies of the departments proportionally, when the departments have more than 11 deputies. This is the case in Paris, in the North or even Bouches-du-Rhône. This would give a quarter of the elected representatives chosen proportionally, without the need to redistrict the 577 legislative constituencies.

In the presidential majority, there are historical defenders of proportional representation, like François Bayrou. “We regain hopeconfides a MoDem minister, there may be a shooting window this time”. Except that at Renaissance the reception is very mixed: “The majority of the majority is against”, summarizes a Macronist deputy. Starting with the group’s boss in the Assembly, Sylvain Maillard, who sees proportional representation as a bonus for “apparatchiks”who would head to the party to be invested.

Proportionality pushed by the opposition, except at LR

There are more defenders of proportional representation in the opposition, as in the RN. Among the rebels too, but the Mélenchonists want proportionalism “integral”like in the 1986 legislative elections, not fair “dose”. The president of the environmentalist deputies, Cyrielle Chatelain, is not convinced by the version of Yaël Braun-Pivet, who creates “two types of deputies” : deputies from urban areas elected on lists, and those from rural areas for whom nothing would change. Same reservation on the side of the communists, who nevertheless have not “no problem in principle with proportional”. As for the PS, it looks at this “without hostility, but without appetite either”.

It is in the ranks of LR that there is the most attachment to the majority vote. The right does not like proportional, synonymous with “macronist disconnection power 1,000” blurted out a deputy. But at Les Républicains, “they will end up having an interest in it”, quips a minister, because LR has been losing weight in all legislative elections since 2012. With Yaël Braun-Pivet’s scenario, the right would have had eight more deputies in 2022, when Renaissance would have lost 16. “His system is monumental bullshit”nevertheless confides an elected official from a department targeted for switching to proportional representation: “It’s a 3 hour drive from one end to the otherhe said, how we campaign ? And then, it would take several shifts!” The boss of the group Olivier Marleix seems less hostile than his troops, but only on condition of reauthorizing the accumulation of mandates in passing… A dose of proportionality against accumulation, that’s what Gérard Larcher will say to the president of the Assembly.

In short, between the supporters of full proportional representation, the opponents, and those who have demands in return, the consensus that Yaël Braun-Pivet dreams of is very distant. “It has a chance in 10 of succeedingsqueaks a macronist, even a chance in 100!”