Anne Genetet, representing French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist La Republique En Marche (LREM) has been elected to the Parliament. Her victory, amid disturbingly low voter turnout, has however revived hopes in this former French enclave that several city projects might be favourably considered.
Ms. Gentet got 71.72% of the votes among an estimated 92,000 expatriates representing the 11thconstituency, which spreads from Ukraine to New Zealand, covering 49 countries over three continents and 10 time zones.
On Sunday, the voter turnout was an abysmal 21.64%.
The poor voter participation, even in earlier rounds, is reflective of a general disgust with far-right-far-left politics, and is a big concern, but is also why the centrist approach of Mr. Macron has succeeded, Dr. Genetet had told this newspaper ahead of the final stage of the elections.
Ironically, expat voters here (about 6,500) pitched for Thierry Mariani, former Secretary of State for Transport for the Minister for Transport for the Minister of Ecology, Sustainable development, Transport and Housing in the François Fillon III government.
Ms. Genetet, who is looking forward to visiting Puducherry, will now come to the city, with the additional responsibility as a representative of the Government in France, and as someone who is looked upon as a catalyst to resolve the needs of the expatriate population here.
