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France 24
France 24
National
NEWS WIRES

French government wants to scrap number of MPs by 25 percent

Stéphane de Sakutin, AFP | French members of Parliament leaves the National Assembly hemicycle after a vote to ratify the CETA during a session at the French National Assembly in Paris on July 23, 2019.

French President Emmanuel Macron's government wants to shrink the country's parliament by 25% as part of an overhaul of French institutions.

Now it's up to legislators themselves to approve.

The government introduced a draft law Wednesday that would reduce the number of seats in the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, from 577 to 433. The Senate would go from 348 to 261 members.

That's still more than the 535-member U.S. Congress.

The bill also allows for 20% of seats to be based on party lists instead of individual candidates.

Both moves were promised by Macron during the 2017 presidential campaign, which was marred by corruption scandals around parliamentary spending involving rival candidates.

Many voters embraced the proposals, but Macron's critics say they could further strengthen the president's powers.

(AP)

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