Third constituency for French residents overseas

3rd constituency for French residents overseas

French National Assembly
constituency

Deputy
 Axelle Lemaire
PS
Department none (overseas residents)
Canton none
Voters 140,731

The Third constituency for French residents overseas (French: troisième 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 ten countries in Northern Europe - specifically, Iceland, Norway, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Sweden, Finland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As of New Year's Day 2011, it contained 140,731 registered French voters. By far the greatest number of these (113,655) were living in the United Kingdom, the country with the third greatest number of registered French residents in the world. (In contrast, there were only 146 in Estonia, and just one in Greenland.)[1][2][3][4]

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

Deputies

ElectionMemberParty
2012 Axelle Lemaire PS

Election results

2012

Candidates

The list of candidates was officially finalised on 14 May. These are the twenty candidates:[5][6]

The Socialist Party has chosen Axelle Lemaire, a resident of London, as its candidate. Her deputy (suppléant) is Christophe Premat, a resident of Stockholm.[7]

The Union for a Popular Movement has chosen Emmanuelle Savarit, with Geoffrey Party as her deputy (suppléant).[8]

The Left Front has chosen Lucile Jamet, with Sébastien Mas as her deputy (suppléant).[6]

The Democratic Movement has chosen Yannick Naud as its candidate. Marianne Magnin is his deputy (suppléante).[9]

Europe Écologie–The Greens has chosen Olivier Bertin, with Natacha Blisson as his deputy (suppléante).[10] A resident of London, Bertin runs a bilingual preschool. He is also a member of the Green Party of England and Wales.[11]

The National Front has chosen Guy Le Guezennec. Gérard Berardi is his deputy.[6]

The Radical Party (centre-right) and the Republican, Ecologist and Social Alliance (centrist) have jointly chosen Olivier de Chazeaux as their candidate, with Nathalie Chassaigne-Rombaut as his deputy.[6]

The Radical Party of the Left (centre-left) has chosen Ezella Sahraoui. Alain Malcolm Douet is her deputy.[12]

The Christian Democratic Party has chosen Denys Dhiver as its candidate. Jorice Samuel is his deputy. Dhiver, who is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement as well as of the CDP, is also endorsed by France Ecologie.[13]

The Centrist Alliance has chosen Olivier Cadic, with Sophie Routier as his deputy.[6]

Solidarity and Progress, the French branch of the LaRouche movement, is represented by Édith Tixier, with Yannick Caroff as her deputy.[6]

Will Mael Nyamat will be standing as an independent candidate (miscellaneous left). A former member of the French Socialist Party, he left it and is now a member of the British Labour Party. He is a resident of London. Dja-Tsingue Nzigou is his deputy.[14]

Christophe Schermesser, who has lived and worked in Ireland, England and Finland, is the candidate of the European Federalist Party. Danielle Schermesser is his deputy.[15]

Gaspard Koenig, a resident of London, is the candidate for the small French Liberal Democratic Party (which espouses economic liberalism). (It bears no relation to the British party of the same name.) Olivia Penichou is his deputy.[16]

Marie-Claire Sparrow is the candidate of the Gathering of French residents Overseas (Rassemblement des Français de l'étranger), related to the Union for a Popular Movement. Richard Dimosi is her deputy.[6]

Aberzack Boulariah, an "expatriate entrepreneur", is an independent candidate. Marc Ambroise is his deputy.[17]

Jérôme de Lavenère Lussan is a legal entrepreneur running as an independent candidate. Fahd Rachidi is his deputy.[18]

The other independent candidates are: Bernard Larmoyer (with Virginie Charles as his deputy); Anne-Marie Wolfsohn (with Maïlys Michot-Casbas as her deputy); and Patrick Kaboza (with David Judaique as his deputy).[6]

Campaign

Although campaigning was difficult due to the sheer size of the constituency, some candidates did travel to several countries to talk to expatriates. In addition, a debate was organised in King's College, London in late May, with many of the candidates taking part.[4][19] A number of candidates were also interviewed (separately) on French Radio London.[20]

A major issue for voters is reportedly the cost and accessibility of French schools abroad.[21]

With a large majority of voters living in the UK, and twelve of the twenty candidates based there (including nine in London), the UK was a focal point of the campaign.[21]

Results

As in other constituencies, turnout was low in the first round. Latvia was the only country in this constituency in which over half of registered French residents voted (57.3%). Turnout was also comparatively high in Estonia (41.1%) and Lithuania (41.0%). It was lowest in the United Kingdom (18.8%) and Ireland (21.8%). Nonetheless, French residents in the United Kingdom cast 72.53% of all ballots cast in this constituency.[22]

Socialist candidate Axelle Lemaire won the first round vote by a clear margin. She finished first in every country except Estonia.[22][23] Lemaire went on to win the second round by a large margin.[24]

Legislative Election 2012: Overseas residents 3 - 2nd round[24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PS Axelle Lemaire 9,679 54.76 -
UMP Emmanuelle Savarit 7,997 45.24 -
Turnout 18,178 20.56 -
PS win (new seat)
Legislative Election 2012: Overseas residents 3 - 1st round[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PS Axelle Lemaire 5 486 30.16 -
UMP Emmanuelle Savarit 3 934 21.63 -
Centrist Alliance Olivier Cadic 2 063 11.34 -
EELV Olivier Bertin 1 877 10.32 -
MoDem Yannick Naud 1 126 6.19 -
Liberal Democrats Gaspard Koenig 801 4.40 -
FG Lucile Jamet 671 3.69 -
FN Guy Le Guezennec 493 2.71 -
Independent Anne-Marie Wolfsohn 488 2.68 -
Miscellaneous right Marie-Claire Sparrow 379 2.08 -
Christian Democrat Denys Dhiver 253 1.39 -
Independent Jérôme de Lavenère Lussan 150 0.82 -
Radical Olivier de Chazeaux 125 0.69 -
Independent Aberzack Boulariah 80 0.44 -
PRG Ezella Sahraoui 67 0.37 -
Independent Bernard Larmoyer 61 0.34 -
European Federalists Christophe Schermesser 49 0.27 -
Miscellaneous left Will Mael Nyamat 45 0.25 -
Solidarity and Progress Édith Tixier 38 0.21 -
Independent Patrick Kaboza 4 0.02 -
Turnout 18 402 20.8 n/a

References

  1. "Les élections en 2012 à l’étranger: Votre circonscription pour l’élection des députés", French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
  2. "Décret n° 2011-367 du 4 avril 2011 authentifiant la population des Français établis hors de France au 1er janvier 2011", Légifrance
  3. "Français inscrits au registre mondial au 31/12/2010", French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Législatives : à Londres, pléthore de candidats et tâtonnements", Le Monde, 26 May 2012
  5. "Arrêté du 14 mai 2012 fixant la liste des candidats au premier tour de l'élection des députés élus par les Français établis hors de France ", Journal Officiel de la République Française, 15 May 2012
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 "3ème circonscription: Europe du Nord", Le Petit Journal
  7. "Elections législatives 2012 : nos candidates et candidats", Parti Socialiste - Fédération des Français à l'Etranger
  8. "Législatives : l'UMP a désigné ses candidats pour l'étranger", Le Figaro, April 13, 2011
  9. "Yannick Naud, Candidat du MoDem pour la 3ème circonscription des Français de l’étranger", Mouvement Démocrate Royaume-Uni et Irlande
  10. "Motion 13: Législatives 2012: Hors de France", Europe Écologie–The Greens
  11. "Les 11 candidat-e-s EELV sur les circonscriptions législatives hors de France", EELV, 12 November 2011
  12. "Présentation de Ezella Sahraoui", Le Petit Journal
  13. "Présentation de Denys Dhiver", Le Petit Journal
  14. "Ma déclaration de candidature", Nyamat's official website
  15. "Présentation de Christophe Schermesser", Le Petit Journal
  16. "Présentation de Gaspard Koenig", Le Petit Journal
  17. "Présentation de Aberzack Boulariah", Le Petit Journal
  18. "LÉGISLATIVES 2012 - Jérôme Lussan : "Je veux être une force de frappe", Le Petit Journal
  19. "Le défi : mobiliser des électeurs éparpillés", France 24, 1 June 2012
  20. French Radio London: Réécoutez / Listen Again, March 2012
  21. 21.0 21.1 "Why are the French getting an 'MP for London'?", BBC News, 2 June 2012
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 Official results of the first round, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  23. "Législatives : tous les résultats des Français de l'étranger", Le Nouvel Observateur, 4 June 2012
  24. 24.0 24.1 "Résultats du 2nd tour - 17 juin 2012 dans la 3ème circonscription - Europe du Nord", Le Monde