The Senate of France will begin its first session of the 2026-2027 parliamentary session on Thursday. During this session, senators will elect the president of the Senate. Gerard Larcher, who has been president for the past twelve years, is seeking a sixth term. However, opposition groups are planning to challenge him. This session also follows the triennial renewal of half the Senate seats on September 27, which brings changes to the Senate's internal structures and leadership. The session will start at 3 p.m. with a speech from Pierre Cuypers, the eldest senator, who is 82 years and 6 months old. Cuypers will be joined by the six youngest senators, who will serve as "secretaries of age" until the election of the definitive Senate bureau. Among them are Mathilde Ollivier, the youngest senator at 32 years and 3 months, Ryan Persaud, a new senator from Guyana also 32 years and 3 months old, and Rémi Cardon, a socialist senator who was the youngest in history when first elected in 2020. The election of the president will be conducted by secret ballot at the podium. Senators will be called to vote in alphabetical order, with the first letter drawn by lot. The counting will be handled by the secretaries of age in the Conference Room next to the hemicycle. The eldest senator will announce the results. This process usually takes between one hour and one and a half hours, with results expected between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. To win in the first or second round, a candidate needs an absolute majority of the votes cast. If not, a simple relative majority is enough from the third round. In case of a tie, the oldest candidate is declared the winner. Gérard Larcher has confirmed his intention to run for a sixth term as president. He was first elected to the "plateau" in 2008 but lost the position in 2011 when the left briefly gained a majority in the Senate. He was re-elected to the presidency in 2014 and has held it without interruption since. This candidacy is part of an agreement that ensures the LR and centrists maintain a majority in the upper house. While the current president has a strong chance of being reappointed, opposition groups may put forward their own candidates. Patrick Kanner, recently re-elected as head of the socialist group, had run in 2023 and could still be a candidate this year. Melanie Vogel, the senator for the French living abroad and new head of the ecologist group, and Cécile Cuckierman, head of the communist elected members of the Senate, are also expected to run.