The immigration law was adopted in the Senate and the National Assembly on Tuesday, December 19. The majority is pleased to have passed the text “without the votes of the RN”. In reality, National Rally deputies played a role in the election.
The immigration bill was passed by Parliament on Tuesday December 19 after intense negotiations in the CMP to change the text. A victory acquired “without the votes of RN deputies”, we could hear from the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. In reality, the equation is a little more complex.
In the National Assembly, the number of votes cast during the ballot was 535. The absolute majority is therefore, arithmetically, 268. 349 deputies voted for the adoption of the text, 186 voted against. The 88 deputies of the National Rally (RN) voted in favor of the bill. So, could the government really have passed this law without the RN deputies?
Two other scenarios were possible. The first: an abstention from RN deputies. In this case, the immigration law was indeed adopted and it is on this observation that the government is basing itself to ensure that the votes of the extreme right did not count. To achieve such a result, it is necessary to remove the 88 votes of RN deputies from the vote, but also from the total vote count. The number of votes cast increases from 535 to 447, and automatically, the absolute majority is 224. In such a scenario, the 261 votes obtained in the Assembly are sufficient.
But in electoral law, it is the number of votes cast that counts and the majority of votes once the majority on these votes cast has been established. And in this perspective, the votes of the RN have indeed allowed the majority to have the text voted on in the National Assembly. Let us understand clearly: the absolute majority is 268. The text was only adopted with 261 votes in favor. The position of the RN in this vote is therefore not neutral, their choice influenced the results. If the RN had voted against the text, it would then have been rejected. This is why the voices of the National Rally weighed heavily in the adoption of the text.
