Shift to the Left for Senate

"The Palace falls," [says French daily Libération](http:// http://www.liberation.fr/politiques/01012361890-poussee-de-la-gauche-aux-senatoriales) following the voting, held September 25, for the French Senate, which sits in the Luxembourg Palace. "With at least 175 seats (out of 343), the Left has overturned the high chamber of Parliament for the first time in the Vth Republic [founded in 1958]. Since 1958, in fact, the Senate has always been dominated by the Right, due to the voting method – indirect universal suffrage – which gives greater weight to small rural communes which are traditionally conservative.

Yet, the most recent local elections were won by the Left, which makes a good score in the Senate ballot "inevitable," says Libération. Elected for six years, with half the seats renewed every three years, the Senators approve the government's budget as well as government-proposed legislation. On October 1, the Senate will elect a President, the person that replaces the President of the Republic should it become necessary to do so. This seat could fall to an opponent of President Nicolas Sarkozy. "The direct political consequences [of a Left victory] will not be huge," Libération admits. "But", at seven months of the presidential election, the paper adds, "for the Right this is already a symbolic, electoral sanction.