Gosh, how I loved writing that title, for the first time since the founding of the Vth Republic [1958] the Senate is now controlled by the left.
The Senate in France is not quite the same as in the US since if the House and the Senate do not agree than the government can decide by "commission mixte paritaire" to give precedence to the House for the final decision. The leader of the Senate is also first inline if the President; is impeached, resigns or is otherwise incapacitated. The Senate is elected in thirds every three years.
For the first time in over half a century the right are faced with a hostile senate even though they can over-ride the senate since they have the majority in the House and the presidency it still can slow the process down. Like the US the Senate and House often pass acrimonious comments between themselves.
Since this comes seven months before the Presidential elections this is a major victory for the left and Sarkozy is now the "man who lost the senate" it promises to be quite interesting. The socialists can still mess this up as they have in the past but recent local, regional and now senatorial elections are a strong platform to build upon; this election is for the left to lose.
I'll update you once the presidential election really gets under way this is about three months before polling hence; not like the long drawn out, over hyped and ridiculously expensive US process.
Note: for those who have not read the article, this election is not by universal suffrage.
10:11 AM PT: See KingofSpades for the numbers and more info
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I'm too busy smiling