The ninth French legislative constituency for citizens abroad (French: neuvième circonscription des Français établis hors de France) is one of eleven constituencies each electing one representative of French people living outside France to the French National Assembly.
Area It covers all French citizens living in the following sixteen countries of North-West Africa: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia. (It specifically excludes Western Sahara, which is recognised neither as a part of Morocco nor as a separate country, and is not a part of any constituency.) As of New Year's Day 2011, it contained 133,936 registered French voters – of which 41,129 in Morocco, 28,287 in Algeria, 19,995 in Tunisia, 16,817 in Senegal, and 13,094 in Côte d'Ivoire."Les élections en 2012 à l’étranger: Votre circonscription pour l’élection des députés", French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs"Décret n° 2011-367 du 4 avril 2011 authentifiant la population des Français établis hors de France au 1er janvier 2011", Légifrance"Français inscrits au registre mondial au 31/12/2010", French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
This constituency elected its first ever representative at the 2012 French legislative election.
Deputies ElectionMemberParty 2012 Pouria Amirshahi PS2017M'jid El GuerrabLREM2018PRV2022Karim Ben CheïkhG.s2024
Election results
2024 CandidatePartyAllianceFirst roundSecond roundVotes%Votes%Karim Ben CheïkhG.sNFP18,50551.5726,27174.71Samira DjouadiREEnsemble5,63415.708,89325.29Elodie CharonRN3,81710.64Ismaël BoudjekadaDVG1,4213.96Jihad BadreddineLRUDC1,2423.46Erwan Borhan DavouxDVD1,2223.41Seddik KhalfiDVG1,1713.26Rachid TahiriDIV1,1023.07Régina DucellierDVC6931.93Pierre DrevonREC3110.87Hassan OudrhiriDIV2360.66Sébastien PerimonyDIV1720.48Kourtoum SackhoDVD1170.33Gabriel Marie SidibéDIV840.23Rania Tessa MaachouDIV610.17Hachim FadiliDLF530.15Edouard TinaugusDVG200.06Khadija DavidDVG110.03Abdoulai DianifabaDIV80.02Valid votes35,880100.0035,164100.00Blank votes5921.621,8905.08Null votes1310.361680.45Turnout36,60328.0737,22228.55Abstentions93,78471.9393,15871.45Registered voters130,387130,380Source: Result
2023 by-election On January 20, 2023, the Constitutional Council invalidated the election due to a fault in the electronic voting system.
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* MoDem dissident, not endorsed by Ensemble Citoyens
2022
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* Horizons dissident, not endorsed by Ensemble Citoyens
2017 CandidateLabelFirst roundSecond roundVotes%Votes%Leila AïchiDVD20.2940.34M'jid El GuerrabDIV18.9359.66Erwan Borhan DavouxLR13.20Didier Le BretPS11.79Patrice FinelFI9.21Frédéric ElbarDVD5.27Pascal CapdevielleUDI4.05Karim DendèneDVD3.48Yann RoustanECO2.99Jacqueline NizetDVD2.73Jehanne FortinFN2.28Charlotte de LabarreDVD1.07Lamine CamaraPCF0.97Mathilde DarrasDIV0.71Loïc DurandEXD0.50Nadia Bourgeois-ChebahECO0.49Khadija DavidDIV0.41Naji DebacheDLF0.39Nathalie GomezDIV0.39Loubna ZaïrDVG0.25Saâdia MessaoudiaDIV0.23Marie-Laure FabressePRG0.16Sabrina HoudDVD0.10Jean-Christophe ThomasDIV0.09Héléna BesnardDIV0.02Rami ZouaouiDVG0.01Yves-Éric MassianiDIV0.00Votes100.00100.00Valid votes98.3388.12Blank votes0.899.03Null votes0.782.85Turnout14.5711.72Abstentions85.4388.28Registered votersSource: Ministry of the Interior
2012
Candidates The list of candidates was officially finalised on 14 May. There were fourteen candidates:"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
The Union for a Popular Movement chose Khadija Doukkali, a resident of Morocco. André Duclos was her deputy (suppléant)."Législatives : l'UMP a désigné ses candidats pour l'étranger", Le Figaro, April 13, 2011
The Socialist Party chose Pouria Amirshahi, with Martine Vautrin-Djedidi as his deputy (suppléante)."Elections législatives 2012 : nos candidates et candidats", Parti Socialiste – Fédération des Français à l'Etranger
The Left Front chose Laetitia Suchecki, a member of the French Communist Party. Her deputy was Jean Lemaire, a high school philosophy teacher in Casablanca."Présentation de Laetitia Suchecki", Le Petit Journal
The Democratic Movement initially chose Frédérique Ruggieri as its candidate, with Jean-François Caracci as her deputy (suppléant). The two, however, put an end to their joint ticket due to "differing points of view on certain international issues such as Syria or Palestine"; Caracci accused Ruggieri of arrogance and narrow-mindedness. Caracci withdrew from the election, while Ruggieri became an independent candidate (with Patrick Collier as deputy). The Democratic Movement endorsed Sihame Arbib in her place, with Lïla Bali as his deputy."Présentation de Frédérique Ruggieri", Le Petit Journal
Europe Écologie–The Greens initially chose Guilhem Calvo, with Laurence Bonneterre as his deputy (suppléante)."Motion 13: Législatives 2012: Hors de France" , Europe Écologie–The Greens A resident of Morocco, Calvo was a consultant on issues of biodiversity and climate change."Les 11 candidat-e-s EELV sur les circonscriptions législatives hors de France" , EELV, 12 November 2011 It was subsequently announced, however, that Zine-Eddine M'jati, born and raised in Casablanca before he moved to France and entered French politics,"9e CIRCONSCRIPTION – Zine-Eddine M’JATI : « Je ne conçois pas mon travail sans un lien étroit avec les expatriés sur le terrain. »", Le Petit Journal, 24 January 2012 would be the party's candidate, still with Laurence Bonneterre as deputy.Candidates in the 9th constituency, in Le Petit Journal
The National Front chose Alexandra Piel, with Franck Levesque as her deputy.
The Republican, Ecologist and Social Alliance, a centrist alliance which included in particular the centre-right Radical Party, chose Bertrand Vitu. Rachida El Amrani was his deputy.
The centre-left Radical Party of the Left chose Aicha Guendouze, with Fodé Sylla as her deputy.
Solidarity and Progress, the French branch of the LaRouche movement, was represented by Yves Paumier, with Guy Pirod as his deputy.
Karim Dendène, a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, had sought the endorsement of that party. When he did not obtain it, he decided to stand nonetheless. Having been suspended from the party as a consequence, he stood for the "Gathering of French residents Overseas" (Rassemblement des Français de l'étranger). He was a general practitioner in Algiers. His deputy was Véronique Brigaud."Présentation de Karim Dendene", Le Petit Journal
Yannick Urrien was an independent right-wing candidate. Born and raised in Casablanca, he was a media entrepreneur. His deputy was Matthias Hébert."Présentation de Yannick Urrien", Le Petit Journal
Alexandre Foulon was an independent left-wing candidate. An independent consultant on public policy for "several countries" in Africa, he had a home in both Casablanca and Abidjan, and alternates between the two. His deputy was Tristan Calas."Présentation de Alexandre Foulon", Le Petit Journal
Alain Le Moullec was an independent candidate defining himself as a centrist and a social Gaullist. His deputy was Mohamed Khatiri."Présentation de Alain Le Moullec", Le Petit Journal
Campaign Campaigning was rendered difficult by the sheer size of the constituency. Senegalese media, however, reportedly took an active interest in the election, and relayed information and elements of the campaign to their readers and viewers – including of course French residents in Senegal, and persons with dual Senegalese and French citizenship."L'élection des députés français de l'étranger prend place dans les médias sénégalais", France 24, 30 May 2012
A single debate was organised between the candidates, in a restaurant in Casablanca on June 30. Seven of the fourteen candidates took part, including Pouria Amirshahi (Socialist), Sihame Arbib (MoDem), Jean-Malick Lemaire (Left Front), and Zine-Eddine M'jati (EELV). In addition, the UMP sent a representative, but not its candidate, who indicated she was busy campaigning in Côte d'Ivoire. The debate enabled members of the audience to question candidates directly. In addition to the issue of fees for access to French schools abroad, which the main candidates all promised to act upon, several members of the audience asked for François Hollande to rapidly keep his promise to give the right to vote to foreign residents in France in local elections, as this would enable French residents to vote in local elections in Morocco, which grants this right on the basis of reciprocity."Débat entre candidats au pied de la médina de Casablanca", France 24, 1 June 2012
Results As in the other expatriate constituencies, turnout in the first round was low. It was at its lowest in Libya (6.7%), and within the fairly large French community in Algeria (9.7%). The highest turnout in this constituency was in Burkina Faso (32.6%). Socialist candidate Pouria Amirshahi finished first by a very large margin, almost taking the seat in the first round (47.23%). All but three of the candidates finished below 5% of the vote; dissident UMP candidate Karim Dendène, standing against his own party, obtained 7.22%, but was far behind Amirshahi and the UMP's official candidate Khadija Doukkali.Official results of the first round, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs"Législatives : tous les résultats des Français de l'étranger", Le Nouvel Observateur, 4 June 2012
Amirshahi finished first in every country except in Côte d'Ivoire, and among the very small number of voters in Libya (where he received five votes to Doukali's eleven) and Guinea-Bissau (two votes to Doukali's seven). Côte d'Ivoire is the only country in the region in which the UMP's Khadija Doukkali finished first within a fairly sizable electorate, with 47.99% of the vote. (France's UMP government had led a military intervention in Côte d'Ivoire to help bring an end to the 2011 civil war.) In Tunisia, Amirshahi obtained 56.15% of the vote. He obtained 57.93% in Mali.
References