Proportional: François Bayrou believes there is "a majority", promises a text for the end of the year

He says he has "confidence in his teaching abilities" to convince. François Bayrou estimated on Sunday, June 29, that there was "a majority" in Parliament to vote in favor of a proportional voting system for legislative elections and that he would present a text at the end of the year after the budget or at the beginning of next year.

"There is a majority for proportional representation in the National Assembly," but "within the common core there are different sensitivities," and "therefore I will present this text after we have completed the budgetary work," either "at the end of this year" or at the beginning of 2026, the Prime Minister stated on the Grand Jury program on RTL-Public Sénat-Le Figaro.

On April 30, François Bayrou began a series of consultations with political forces on the proportional election of MPs. The Prime Minister advocates full proportional representation by department, as in 1986, whereas since the establishment of the Fifth Republic (with the exception of that year's legislative elections), MPs have been elected by a two-round majority vote.

The National Rally, which favors proportional representation with a majority bonus, has indicated that it could accommodate the 1986 model. On the right, the Republicans are strongly opposed to it.

A guest on BFM Politique this Sunday, Interior Minister and President of the Republicans, Bruno Retailleau, assured that his group "will oppose" François Bayrou's bill. "Because we can clearly see that today, the National Assembly is in chaos. Proportional representation would make this chaos structural and permanent. There would no longer be a majority," he explained.

According to him, "it will be a party system" if proportional representation is implemented: "This proportional representation could only pass with the votes of the National Rally, the left and the far left. The common base, we are very opposed to proportional representation."