LPartisan discipline died on March 20, in view of the votes on the two motions of censure tabled by the opposition to reject the text of the law authorizing the raising of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. That day, nineteen of the sixty-one Republican (LR) deputies voted for the cross-party censure motion, and three supported that of the National Rally, as well as a socialist deputy. All defied the instructions of their party, the most flagrant indiscipline being that of the LR. Moreover, out of the eleven public ballots on the entire bill organized on this date, the members of LR were divided five times. But the vote of March 20 has a special place, because it concerns the commitment of the responsibility of the government and, for the first time, these “slingers” of the right, which represent a third of the group, shattered the unity of their party.
How did we get here ? The causes are many: MPs are elected regardless of their party label. They do not want their party, too weak to impose its directives, to question this principle. Many elected LRs recalled that the statutes of their group enshrine this freedom, especially when voting. They forget, however, that the same texts make unity an imperative, and that any breach can be sanctioned.
But the fear of punishment today seems insufficient to guarantee discipline. The eviction of Aurélien Pradié from his duties as executive vice-president for repeated breaches of unity, on February 18, demonstrates this: a month later, he braved the instructions and took eighteen deputies from his group to the sling. So much so that, this time, the governing bodies preferred to postpone the sanction, fearing to highlight the weakness of the party, or even to push the undisciplined to form their own group.
Unit break
This rebellion of LR deputies is, that said, rather exceptional, and masks the traditional discipline of elected officials from most parliamentary groups. Those who form the current majority (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons) are forced to do so within the framework of a relative majority, resulting from the legislative elections of June 2022, any dissension which could lead to the government being put in a minority. The leaders of the Renaissance group have thus threatened with exclusion the deputies who do not vote for the pension reform, while abstention or absence is usually tolerated. The relative majority must be united, even unanimous.
You have 58.84% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.