Editing Jean-Pierre Raffarin (section)

===Resignation===
Raffarin's resignation was accepted by President Chirac on 30 May 2005, after the "no" victory at the [[European Constitution]] referendum, and he was replaced as prime minister by [[Dominique de Villepin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4595423.stm |title=De Villepin appointed French PM  |date=31 May 2005 |publisher=BBC News   |access-date=8 November 2010 }}</ref>

On 18 September 2005, he was elected Senator in the Vienne ''département''. Speculation were that he could eventually try to become [[List of Presidents of the French Senate|President of the Senate]] or President of the [[Union for a Popular Movement]] if Nicolas Sarkozy won the [[2007 French presidential election|2007 presidential election]]. He became one of the Vice presidents of the UMP in 2007. In September 2008, he sought the Senate UMP fraction's investiture to become President of the Senate, but was defeated by [[Gérard Larcher]].

Raffarin is Grand Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]] and Grand Cross of [[Ordre national du Mérite (France)|National Order of Merit]].