Les Republicains strengthen hold on Senate

Les Republicains strengthened their hold on France's upper house of Parliament, the Senate at the weekend.

The centre-right party now has 159 seats in the upper chamber, up from the 142 it had before the vote. President Emmanuel Macron's La République en marche (LREM) now has 28 senators. Prior to Sunday's election, the new party had 29 members in the upper house - all of whom had defected from the centre-left Parti Socialist, or Les Republicains.

The outcome is regarded as a setback for Mr Macron, but it is unlikely to affect his economic reforms. Even so, LREM officials have said they were hoping for a better performance in the ballot.

The Socialists, meanwhile, returned 81 senators, a loss of five seats.

Senators are elected by 76,000 local and national lawmakers, not the general public.

The upper house can delay government bills and suggest amendments, but the final say always goes to the lower house, the National Assembly, where Mr Macron's LREM has a large majority.

In certain matters, however, such as the constitutional reforms Mr Macron hopes to push through in 2018, the Senate has a much more powerful role. To cut the number of Parliamentary seats by a third, as he intends to do, Mr Macron needs the support of 555 seats from both houses. He currently has the backing of 400 Assembly members, including all 313 LREM MPs, but needs another 155 from the upper house if he is to push through the reforms without going to the polls in a referendum.

There was some good news for Mr Macron at the weekend. A poll for Journal du Dimanche showed that his approval rating had risen from 40% to 45% in the past month.