France to cut number of MPs by almost a third to restore voters' confidence

Measures will also introduce degree of proportional representation to give underrepresented groups a more prominent voice

Reforms are largely in line with campaign promises made by France's president, Emmanual Macron (Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP)

France is planning to cut the number of MPs by almost a third in a move aimed at restoring voters’ confidence in a largely discredited political system.

Under the measures, the country will also introduce a degree of proportional representation for the next legislative elections in order to give underrepresented groups a larger voice.

The reforms are largely in line with campaign promises made by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

They come after weeks of negotiations between his government and the head of the opposition-controlled senate, whose support is essential to push changes through.

President Macron’s prime minister, Edouard Philippe, said the reforms will speed up the lawmaking process and give more of a voice to underrepresented groups.

“These bills will contribute to a deep renovation of political and parliamentary life, in a spirit of responsibility, representation and efficiency,” Mr Philippe said.

He said the number of MPs, in both the lower house National Assembly and the Senate, will be cut by 30 per cent.

An agreement with the conservative-controlled Senate would spare Mr Macron the need to call a referendum to pass the reforms.

“We were able to build together the basis for a possible deal,” Mr Philippe said.

However, many conservative MPs have criticised both the reform, which would threaten many of their jobs, and the Senate’s president, Gerard Larcher, who led talks with the government.

Such an outcry suggests parliamentary approval may be far from certain.

“The feeling among MPs is that the Senate put its own interest first and that president Larcher said ‘deal’ a bit too easily,” one conservative MP, Philippe Gosselin, said.

Mr Larcher himself later said in a joint statement with other conservatives the plan will have to be amended in parliament.

Mr Philippe said some 15 per cent of MPs in the lower house, which has the final word on legislation, will be elected via proportional representation in the 2022 legislative elections, a concession to Mr Macron’s centrist Democratic Movement party ally.

The last time the proportional voting system was used, the far-right National Front won an unprecedented number of seats.

Despite winning 13 per cent of the vote in the last parliamentary elections in 2017 under France’s current voting system, the Marine Le Pen’s party gained only eight seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.

Additional reporting by Reuters