Second constituency for French residents overseas

2nd constituency for French residents overseas

French National Assembly constituency
Deputy	Sergio Coronado EELV
Department	none (overseas residents)
Canton	none
Voters	92,633

The Second constituency for French residents overseas (deuxième circonscription des Français établis hors de France) is one of eleven constituencies each electing one representative of French citizens overseas to the French National Assembly.

Area

It covers all French citizens living in Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Thus it covers every country in the Americas - other than Canada and the United States, which together constitute the First constituency. Nor does it include the French overseas departments and territories in the Americas, which are part of France and form constituencies of their own: Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (one constituency), Guadeloupe (four), Martinique (four) and French Guiana (two).^[1]

It is the least populous constituency of its kind, as it contained, as of New Year's Day 2011, 92,633 registered French voters.^[2]

This constituency elected its first ever representative at the 2012 French legislative election.

Deputies

Election results

2012

Candidates

The list of candidates was officially finalised on 14 May. These are the twelve candidates:^[3][4]

The Union for a Popular Movement has chosen Pascal Drouhaud, formerly the party's director of international relations, as its candidate.^[5]

Europe Écologie–The Greens has chosen Sergio Coronado (born in Chile and raised in Argentina), with Cécile Lavergne as his deputy (suppléante). Coronado has been endorsed by the Socialist Party, which will not be presenting a candidate of its own.^[6][7] He was a spokesman for Eva Joly during the 2012 presidential election campaign.^[8]

Raquel Garrido, a member of the Left Party, is the chosen candidate for the Left Front, of which she is a co-founder and which also includes the French Communist Party. She is a lawyer, and is "Jean-Luc Mélenchon's international spokeswoman". Born in Chile, she moved to France with her parents after the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. In France, she became a leader of the National Union of Students, then vice-president of SOS Racisme. She was also in charge of international relations at the Workers' Force union federation, and represented France at the International Labour Organization. Her deputy (suppléant) is singer-songwriter Nilda Fernández.^[9][10][11]

The National Front has chosen Alain-Gérard Georgi-Samaran, a resident of Paraguay who has been "an entrepreneur in South America for more than thirty years". Jean-Marie Matten is his deputy (suppléant).^[12]

The Radical Party (centre-right) and the Republican, Ecologist and Social Alliance (centrist) have jointly chosen Joel Doglioni, a resident of Bogota, as their candidate. Doglioni is an adviser to France's foreign trade. Jean-Jacques Gaudiot is his deputy (suppléant).^[13]

The Radical Party of the Left (centre-left) has chosen Thérèse Marianne-Pépin. Catherine Prost is her deputy (suppléante).^[14]

Solidarity and Progress, the French branch of the LaRouche movement, is represented by Cédric Manscour, with Silvia Santorio as his deputy (suppléante).^[4]

Françoise Lindemann, affiliated to the Union for a Popular Movement, is running as an independent candidate against the UPM-endorsed candidate. A resident of Brazil, she owns and runs a hotel outside Rio de Janeiro. Her deputy (suppléant) is Francis Javelly.^[4][15]

Charles-Henry Chenut, head of a law firm in Brazil, presents himself as an independent centrist candidate. His deputy is Emmanuel Henriet.^[16]

Palmira Pozo is an independent candidate. Her proposal is to allow her constituents to dictate her vote on every bill in Parliament. Francis Le Suave is her deputy.^[17]

Jean-Marc Millet is an independent candidate, representing his "France Expat Collective Vision" (Collectif Vision France Expat) movement. Philippe Gillier is his deputy.^[4]

Alain Terrien is an independent candidate, with Bertrang Lalague as his deputy.^[4]

Results

Turnout for the first round was low throughout the constituency, with a low point of 7% in Saint Lucia (where 34 of the 488 registered French citizens voted) and a high point of just 39.8% in El Salvador. Turnout was also comparatively high in Cuba (38.1%). Elsewhere, it was below 30%. The smallest turnout in numeric terms was in Suriname, where only 17 citizens voted, out of 148 (11.5%).^[18]

Sergio Coronado, the candidate of the Greens backed by the Socialist Party, obtained a comfortable lead in the first round. He finished first in almost every country (except the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela), and obtained 13 of the 17 votes cast in Suriname (76.47%). The electorate on the mainstream right was split between the UMP-endorsed candidate, Pascal Drouhaud, and dissident candidate Françoise Lindemann, who succeeded in obtaining over 16% of the vote to finish third. Raquel Garrido, the Left Front's international spokeswoman, obtained her party's joint best result abroad (fourth with 8.6%), matched by Juliette Estivil in the fifth constituency.^[8][18] Coronado went on to win the second round.^[19]

References