Paris: Yael Braun-Pivet was elected on Tuesday as the new speaker of the French National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament.
The French National Assembly’s 577 members kicked off its first session on Tuesday by electing its first female speaker with 242 votes in her favor out of 462 voters, Xinhua news agency reported quoting French media.
Braun-Pivet comes from French President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance Ensemble. After Macron was re-elected in April, Braun-Pivet was promoted as minister for France’s Overseas Territories, according to the French state-owned television channel France 24.
For this first session, the deputies sat in alphabetical order instead of with their political party.
In her speech after being elected, Braun-Pivet said that the National Assembly should be a “foundation on which we can build consensus and compromises.”
The post of the National Assembly speaker ranks fourth in the French government after the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the Senate.
One of the key tasks of the speaker of the National Assembly is to conduct debates and ensure the rules are respected.
