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French Senate

Senate
Sénat
Type
Type
History
Founded 1799
Leadership
Président
Structure
Seats 348
French Senate 2014.svg
Political groups
     Republican (143)
Elections
Indirect election
Last election
28 September 2014
Next election
September 2017
Meeting place
Hemicycle Senat France.jpg
Luxembourg Palace, Paris
Website
www.senat.fr

Coordinates: 48°50′54″N 2°20′14.2″E / 48.84833°N 2.337278°E / 48.84833; 2.337278

The Senate (French: Sénat [seˈna]) is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a president. Indirectly elected by elected officials, it represents territorial collectivities of the Republic and French citizens living abroad.

The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally receive less media coverage.

France's first experience with an upper house was under the Directory from 1795 to 1799, when the Council of Ancients was the upper chamber. There were Senates in both the First and Second Empires (the former being known as the sénat conservateur, the latter as the French Senate), but these were only nominally legislative bodies – technically they were not legislative, but rather advisory bodies on the model of the Roman Senate.


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