Jérémie Iordanoff was elected as the Vice-President of the French National Assembly on October 22, defeating candidate Virginie Duby-Muller. The victory came as a result of divisions within the “common ground” between Les Républicains (LR) and the Macronist supporters of the government. In the elections, Iordanoff received 175 votes in the third round, while Duby-Muller received 161. This was to replace Annie Genevard, who had left the LR party to join the government.
During the elections, the votes of the “common ground” were split between the right-wing candidate and a candidate from the MoDem party, Christophe Blanchet. Blanchet eventually withdrew from the race, but this was not enough to secure a victory for Duby-Muller. Iordanoff, who had received 149 votes in the second round, was able to rally support from his camp and possibly gain some votes from the “common ground” to secure his win. The tensions between LR and the presidential camp had already been evident in the election of Aurélie Trouvé (La France insoumise) as the president of the economic affairs commission over LR-supported candidate Stéphane Travert.
Following his victory, Iordanoff commented that the defeat of the “common ground” demonstrated their lack of unity and majority support in the National Assembly. He thanked the deputies from the Nouveau Front populaire (NFP) for their support. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France insoumise, congratulated Iordanoff and criticized the “bogus team” and strategy of Macron and Barnier. Members of various political groups expressed mixed reactions to the election results, with the MoDem group leader Marc Fesneau expressing dissatisfaction and suspecting some members to have voted against their party’s interests.
Cyrielle Chatelain, the president of the Green group, praised the victory as a result of unity within the Nouveau Front populaire, highlighting the lack of coherence and solidarity within the common ground supporting Michel Barnier. Richard Ramos, a MoDem deputy, criticized the alliances made against nature and accused government spokesman Gabriel Attal of being a puppet of LR leader Laurent Wauquiez. The election results highlighted the underlying tensions and divisions within the French political landscape.
