The result was expected and it only took two laps to get there. The deputy of Yvelines, Yaël Braun-Pivet, was elected president of the National Assembly this Tuesday afternoon, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the candidate of the RN Sébastien Chenu to save himself an additional ballot. This is the first time that a woman has accessed the Perchoir. Facing her, other candidates – like Nathalie Bassire and Fatiha Keloua Hachi – had also tried their luck. But a relative majority was enough for this native of Nancy to win the job.
The short-lived Minister of Overseas (one month), who left the government this weekend after being invested by his group, thus succeeds Richard Ferrand (LREM), beaten in the second round of the legislative elections. She had already briefly tried to run for the place in 2018, before withdrawing her candidacy in favor of the candidate chosen by the majority at the time.
At 51, the one who was president of the Law Commission for five years – a break with the tradition of appointing an experienced person – has become an essential figure at the Palais-Bourbon. “I held the bar in the face of crises, from terrorism to the pandemic”, subjects of her commission, she argued in particular, believing also that women “must succeed in politics without imitating or adapting to a male role model.
The difficulties of the Benalla affair
A former criminal lawyer, this native of Nancy had put her “vocation” on hold to follow her husband, an executive at L’Oréal, seven years in Taiwan and Japan, and raise their five children. On her return, she got involved in the Restos du Cœur, creating free consultations with lawyers and a reception center in the Yvelines.
His membership of En Marche – after having “always voted PS” – is an “extension”: “in action without remaining on postures”. But the first years of his first term were not easy. In the summer of 2018, the commission of inquiry into the former collaborator of the president, Alexandre Benalla, of which she was co-rapporteur, exploded after the withdrawal of the opposition, who accused her in particular of “protecting” the Elysium.
This election officially launches the 16th Legislature of the Assembly. It will be followed, in the coming days, by the appointment of the heads of the main bodies of the institution, including the key finance committee, which the Nupes and the RN are fighting over.