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For the 246th time France has chosen a man as president of the National Assembly

The new president of France's National Assembly has been named and like the 245 predecessors... it's a man.

Published: 27 June 2017 14:57 CEST
For the 246th time France has chosen a man as president of the National Assembly
Photo: AFP
The position, which has only ever been held by a man, has gone to François de Rugy, 43, after he was chosen by new president Emmanuel Macron's La Republique en Marche (REM) party on Tuesday, ahead of two female MPs also up for the prestigious role. 
 
De Rugy, an MP for a constituency in the Loire-Atlantique department secured 153 votes from REM MPs, ahead of two female contenders for the role, Brigitte Bourguignon who got 54 votes, and Sophie Errante, who secured 59 votes.
 
De Rugy, a former candidate in the Socialist party primary also beat another male candidate, Philippe Folliot from the centre-right Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) party to the role. 
 
He will be responsible for managing parliamentary debates, including restoring order when things get too rowdy, and for organising the parliamentary schedule. The role also comes with a certain amount of political caché. 
 
But for many people the fact that the new National Assembly president is a man will be a disappointment although hardly a surprise, given that the 245 before him were all male too, including the first Jean Sylvain Bailly, who ended up being guillotined in 1793.
 
Throughout his campaign and early days of leadership, Macron has made much of the fact that he wanted to place female politicians in important government roles, including even that of prime minister. 
 
Instead that role went to Edouard Philippe and now another sought after position has gone to a man. 
 
Naturally this has been met with some anger from feminists with the president of a French feminist organisation taking to Twitter to show her annoyance, who wrote “Lost again”, referring to the fact that once again the role didn't go to a woman. 
 
 
The role of President of the National Assembly is considered crucial in French politics and whoever holds it is dubbed the “fourth figure of the Republic” after the President, the Prime Minister and the President of the Senate.
 
With De Rugy in the role, it means all four roles ( as well as many other key posts in French politics, such as president of the constitutional council) are held by men.
 
The presidents of all groups in the new National Assembly are also all men.
 
 
READ ALSO: 

Photo: AFP 

But it's not all doom and gloom at the National Assembly from a feminist perspective, with a record number of women in the National Assembly at some 223 female MPs, including of course Marine Le Pen, who won a seat at the fifth time of trying.
 
Macron has also ensured there is parity in his government.
 
After the resent reshuffle there are 15 men and 15 women in the Macron's cabinet.
 
 
 
 
 

 

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POLITICS

France’s Uyghurs say Xi visit a ‘slap’ from Macron

Uyghurs in France on Friday said President Emmanuel Macron welcoming his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week was tantamount to "slapping" them.

Published: 4 May 2024 15:23 CEST
France's Uyghurs say Xi visit a 'slap' from Macron

Xi is due to make a state visit to France on Monday and Tuesday.

Dilnur Reyhan, the founder of the European Uyghur Institute and a French national, said she and others were “angry” the Chinese leader was visiting.

“For the Uyghur people — and in particular for French Uyghurs — it’s a slap from our president, Emmanuel Macron,” she said, describing the Chinese leader as “the executioner of the Uyghur people”.

Beijing stands accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across the Xinjiang region.

Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

A UN report last year detailed “credible” evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence — as well as forced labour — in the region.

But it stopped short of labelling Beijing’s actions a “genocide”, as the United States and some other Western lawmakers have done.

Beijing consistently denies abuses and claims the allegations are part of a deliberate smear campaign to contain its development.

It says it is running vocational training centres in Xinjiang which have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

Standing beside Reyhan at a press conference in Paris, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, who presented herself as having spent three years in a detention camp, said she was “disappointed”.

“I am asking the president to bring up the issue of the camps with China and to firmly demand they be shut down,” she said.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Macron during the visit to “lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression”.

“Respect for human rights has severely deteriorated under Xi Jinping’s rule,” it said.

“His government has committed crimes against humanity… against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, adopted draconian legislation that has erased Hong Kong’s freedoms, and intensified repression of government critics across the country.”

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch

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