Jean-Pierre Bel (born 30 December 1951) is a French retired politician who served as
President of the Senate
President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...
from 2011 to 2014. From the
Ariège department, Bel is a member of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
; he was elected to the Senate in September 1998 and re-elected in September 2008. Bel was President of the Socialist Group in the Senate from 2004 to 2011.
Following the
September 2008 Senate election, Bel was the Socialist candidate for the post of President of the Senate on 1 October 2008, but because the right held a majority of seats in the Senate, he was defeated by
Gérard Larcher
Gérard Philippe René André Larcher (born 14 September 1949) is a French politician serving as President of the Senate since 2014, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2011. A member of The Republicans, he has been a Senator for the Yveli ...
. In the vote, he received 134 votes against 173 votes for Larcher.
The left won a Senate majority in the
September 2011 Senate election, and Bel was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2011. He received 179 votes against 134 votes for the right's candidate, outgoing Senate President Larcher; a centrist,
Valerie Letard
Valerie may refer to:
People
*Saint Valerie (disambiguation), a number of saints went by the name Valerie
*Valerie (given name), a feminine given name
Songs
*"Valerie", a 1981 song by Quarterflash, from ''Quarterflash''
*"Valerie", a 1982 son ...
, received 29 votes.
[Fabio Benedetti-Valentini]
"French Senate Elects Jean-Pierre Bel First Socialist President"
Bloomberg, 2 October 2011.
References
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1951 births
Living people
People from Lavaur, Tarn
Socialist Party (France) politicians
French Senators of the Fifth Republic
Senators of Ariège (department)
Toulouse 1 University Capitole alumni
Presidents of the Senate (France)
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