For this purpose the departments are arranged in alphabetical order and divided into three series of equal size, denoted A, B and C. Candidates for election to the senate must be at least 35 years of age. The main feature of the role of the senator is stability.
Senators are less susceptible than deputies to political trends.
They have time to acquire long parliamentary experience, to specialise, and to plan their action over the longer term. The Senate has a very large proportion of locally elected representatives. Part of its role is to represent local authorities, with whose problems its members are particularly well acquainted.