Constituencies for French residents overseas
The constituencies for French residents overseas (French: Circonscriptions législatives des Français établis hors de France) are eleven constituencies, each electing one member of the National Assembly.
They were created by the 2010 redistricting of French legislative constituencies, the aim of which was to enable French citizens overseas (Français établis hors de France) to be represented as such, rather than vote in a constituency on French territory, as was the case previously. Their creation does not increase the overall number of seats in the Assembly, which remains stable at 577, since it is compensated for by a redrawing of boundaries which reduces the number of seats in France itself to 566. These measures were implemented for the 2012 legislative election. There have also been Senators representing overseas citizens since 1982; they are elected indirectly, by the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad.[1][2][3][4]
History
Creation
The creation of these constituencies created some controversy, when Le Monde estimated that they would be far more favourable to the main centre-right party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), then in power, than to the main centre-left party, the Socialist Party (PS). The newspaper pointed out that, in nine of these constituencies, a majority of voters appeared to favour the right, based on the figures from the 2007 presidential election. The constituency of Central and Eastern Europe and that of Northwest Africa were the only ones to appear left-leaning.[5] While Le Monde provided the figures without comment, left-wing politicians such as Jean-Jacques Urvoas, a Socialist member of the National Assembly, suggested that the government was attempting to provide itself with extra seats; Jean-Paul Lecoq, a Communist member of the National Assembly, suggested overseas citizens should continue to vote solely in French constituencies.[6]
2012 legislative election
Contrary to expectations, candidates supported by the Socialist Party won seven of the eleven constituencies in the
2017 legislative election
In the
2022 legislative election
In the
Geography
The
List of constituencies
Constituency | Region | Number of countries | Member | Portrait | Party | Election |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First | Canada and the United States | 2 | Christopher Weissberg | REM
|
2017 | |
Second | Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America | 33 | Éléonore Caroit | REM
|
2022 | |
Third | Baltic States
|
10 | Alexandre Holroyd | REM
|
2017 | |
Fourth | The Benelux | 3 | Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade | REM
|
2017 | |
Fifth | Andorra, Monaco, Portugal and Spain | 4 | Stéphane Vojetta | REM
|
2022 | |
Sixth | Liechtenstein and Switzerland | 2 | Marc Ferracci | REM
|
2022 | |
Seventh | Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe | 16 | Frédéric Petit
|
MoDem | 2017 | |
Eighth | Southern Europe, Israel, the Palestinian territories | 8 | Meyer Habib | UDI | 2013 | |
Ninth | Maghreb | 16 | Karim Ben Cheïkh | Génération.s | 2022 | |
Tenth | Eastern and Southern Africa, much of the Middle East
|
48 | Amal Amélia Lakrafi | REM
|
2017 | |
Eleventh | Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Oceania, most of Asia | 49 | Anne Genetet | REM
|
2017 |
Electoral results
2012
The 2012 legislative election resulted in the election of the very first National Assembly members representing French residents overseas.
Voting occurred over a week, from 23 to 29 May or on 2 or 3 June for the first round, well in advance of voting in
In April 2011, the ruling Union for a Popular Movement chose several prominent members to stand as candidates overseas. Frédéric Lefebvre, Secretary of State for Commerce, was chosen as the UMP candidate for the first constituency; Éric Besson, Minister of Industry, for the fifth; Thierry Mariani, Secretary of State for Transport, for the eleventh.[13] By contrast, the Socialist Party preferred to select long-term residents of their respective constituencies, who are active in their local community but generally unknown in national French politics.[14] Numerous other parties presented candidates, in particular the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and the Left Front (FG). Many independent candidates were also present in all consistencies.
In the first round, the Socialist Party finished first in six constituencies, while a Socialist-endorsed Green candidate finished first in the second constituency (Central America, Caribbean and South America). The Union for a Popular Movement finished first in the other three (the fifth, tenth and eleventh). The second round, in every constituency except the second, was a run-off between the Socialist Party and the UMP.[15] The second round confirmed this trend, with the left taking eight seats, and the UMP only three. This was a significant surprise; early indications had been that most of the seats would go to the right. Indeed, the UMP government had been accused of having created these constituencies so as to establish right-wing safe seats.[16][17] The left's victory in North America was described as "incredible", and explained, by commentators in Libération, as being due to Socialist candidate Corinne Narassiguin's strong and active campaign, and local voters' rejection of UMP candidate Frédéric Lefebvre, perceived as knowing little about North America and as barely speaking English.[18]
Turnout was particularly low in every constituency (from 13 to 28%). A number of expatriates, living far from any polling station, said they had been unable to vote online, because they had not received the necessary login codes, or because of errors when they attempted to log in and cast their vote. Others said they had abstained deliberately, considering that they should not be voting in an election when the results would primarily affect residents of France. Others considered that the candidates were necessarily ill-suited to represent the interests of expatriates scattered over often vast and diverse territories.[19] Based on projections from the 2007 presidential election results, the carving of constituencies should have resulted in a 9-to-2 division of the seats between the UMP and the Socialists, however French expatriates ended up electing seven Socialists, one Green (Europe Écologie - Les Verts) and three UMP deputies. The results were likely impacted by low turnout and support for Francois Hollande following his presidential election.
In February 2013, the elections of Socialist members of the National Assembly Corinne Narassiguin and Daphna Poznanski-Benhamou were annulled by the Constitutional Council, due to irregularities in the funding of their electoral campaigns. They were barred from standing for public office for a period of one year. Four defeated right-wing candidates in their two constituencies were also barred from standing for public office for a year, for the same reason.[20]
Elected members of the National Assembly[21]
Constituency | Name | Party | Majority | |
First | Corinne Narassiguin | PS | 8.02% | |
Second | Sergio Coronado | EELV
|
12.80% | |
Third | Axelle Lemaire | PS | 9.52% | |
Fourth | Philip Cordery | PS | 6.32% | |
Fifth | Arnaud Leroy |
PS | 5.34% | |
Sixth | Claudine Schmid | UMP | 15.08% | |
Seventh | Pierre-Yves Le Borgn' | PS | 13.80% | |
Eighth | Daphna Poznanski-Benhamou | PS | 11.76% | |
Ninth | Pouria Amirshahi | PS | 24.78% | |
Tenth | Alain Marsaud | UMP | 6.26% | |
Eleventh | Thierry Mariani | UMP | 4.3% |
2017
Elected members of the National Assembly
Constituency | Name | Party | 2nd round vote share | |
First | Roland Lescure | REM
|
79.73% | |
Second | Paula Forteza | REM
|
60.92% | |
Third | Alexandre Holroyd | REM
|
70.11% | |
Fourth | Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade | REM
|
73.73% | |
Fifth | Samantha Cazebonne | REM
|
53.96% | |
Sixth | Joachim Son-Forget | REM
|
74.94% | |
Seventh | Frédéric Petit
|
MoDem | 62.94% | |
Eighth | Meyer Habib | UDI | 57.86% | |
Ninth | M'jid El Guerrab | SE | 59.66% | |
Tenth | Amal Amélia Lakrafi | REM
|
71.25% | |
Eleventh | Anne Genetet | REM
|
71.72% |
2022
See also
- Overseas constituencies of the Parliament of Italy
References
- ^ "Elections 2012 - Votez à l’étranger", French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
- ^ "La représentation des Français établis hors de France", French Senate
- ^ "Redécoupage électoral - 11 députés pour les Français de l'étranger" Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, Le Petit Journal, 22 October 2009
- ^ "Députés de l'étranger: comment ça marche?", L'Express, 15 October 2009
- ^ "La couleur politique des nouvelles circonscriptions des Français à l'étranger", Le Monde, 26 September 2009
- ^ "Redécoupage électoral - 11 députés pour les Français de l'étranger" Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, Le Petit Journal, 22 October 2009
- ^ "Le Conseil constitutionnel annule l'élection de deux députées PS des Français de l'étranger". Le Monde. AFP. 2013-02-15. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
- ^ étrangères, Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires. "Élections législatives - Résultats du 2ème tour pour les Français de l'étranger". France Diplomatie - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères (in French). Retrieved 2022-09-02.
- ^ "Les élections en 2012 à l’étranger: Votre circonscription pour l’élection des députés", French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
- ^ "Les législatives françaises dans la 8e circonscription de l'étranger - Reportage en Israël", Radio France Internationale, 1 June 2012
- ^ Elections législatives. Dates et modalités Archived 2012-05-03 at the Wayback Machine, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- ^ Alexandre Léchenet and Maxime Le Roux, “Les Français de l'étranger peuvent voter par Internet”, Le Monde, 23 May 2012
- ^ "Législatives : l'UMP a désigné ses candidats pour l'étranger", Le Figaro, 13 April 2011
- ^ "Elections législatives 2012 : nos candidates et candidats" Archived 2011-06-08 at the Wayback Machine, Parti Socialiste - Fédération des Français à l'Etranger
- ^ Official results for the first round of the 2012 legislative election, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
- ^ "La gauche l'emporte chez les Français de l'étranger", Le Monde, 18 June 2012
- ^ "La gauche rafle 8 des 11 circonscriptions des Français de l’étranger", France 24, 18 June 2012
- ^ "La vague socialiste emporte même l'Amérique!" Archived 2012-06-19 at the Wayback Machine, Libération, 17 June 2012
- ^ "Législatives : les Français de l'étranger abstentionnistes expliquent leur non-vote", Le Monde, 8 June 2012
- ^ "Le Conseil constitutionnel annule l'élection de deux députées PS des Français de l'étranger", Le Monde, 15 February 2013
- ^ "Résultats des élections législatives : Français de l'étranger", Le Monde
External links
- Media related to Constituencies for French residents overseas at Wikimedia Commons
- Official map of the eleven constituencies (French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs)
- Candidates' campaign leaflets for the 2012 election (French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs)