Gérard Larcher

Gérard Larcher was born in Flers, Orne to a Roman Catholic family. He is the son of Philippe Larcher, director of a textile factory and former Mayor of Saint-Michel-des-Andaines, a small town in Orne.

Upon his second marriage with Christine Weiss, a dentist, he converted to Protestantism. From this union were born three children: Aymeric, Dorothée and Charlotte. After he graduated from the National Veterinary School of Lyon (ENVL), Larcher worked from 1974 to 1979 in the France team of equestrian sports.

In 1976, he joined, as a high school student, the movement of young Gaullists, because he admired Charles de Gaulle and supported the policy orientations of the founder of the Fifth Republic. In the 1983 municipal election, he was elected Mayor of Rambouillet, in Yvelines. Two years later, he was elected regional councillor of Île-de-France.

On 28 September 1986, for the first time, Gérard Larcher was elected to be Senator for Yvelines, under the banner of the Rally for the Republic (RPR). Aged 37, he was one of the youngest French Senators. Appointed Secretary of the Senate in 1989, he was re-elected as a Senator in 1995 and elected as Vice President of the Senate in 1997. In 2001, he was appointed as President of the Senate's Economic Affairs Commission.

In March 2004, after the defeat of the right in regional elections, Gérard Larcher was appointed Junior Minister to the Minister of Social Affairs in the cabinet of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He retained his place in the government in June 2005, after the appointment of Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister.

In May 2007, the new President, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested he enter the government of François Fillon as Minister of Agriculture, but Gérard Larcher declined and preferred to sit in the Senate. In the following months, he prepared his candidacy for President of the Senate, to succeed Christian Poncelet. On 31 July 2008, he was declared a candidate for the UMP primary to elect the President of the Senate, against former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. On 24 September, he was elected as the UMP's candidate for the Presidency of the Senate with 78 votes, against 56 votes for Raffarin and 17 votes for Senator Philippe Marini.

Gérard Larcher was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2008 receiving 173 votes against 134 votes for Socialist candidate Jean-Pierre Bel.[1]

The left won a Senate majority in the September 2011 Senate election, and Jean-Pierre Bel was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2011. He received 179 votes against 134 votes for Larcher, who was the right's candidate; a centrist, Valerie Letard, received 29 votes.[2]

After the victory of the right in September 2014 Senate elections, Larcher was again nominated for the post of President of the Senate by members of the UMP group, and he was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2014.