Singapore-based French physician Anne Genetet is representing President Emmanuel Macron's centrist La Republique En Marche (LREM) in the last stage of Parliamentary elections falling this Sunday.
Dr. Genetet, who was scheduled to be in Puducherry to mobilise support among expatriates for Mr. Macron's party in Parliament, settled for a telephonic interview over Skype with The Hindu. Excerpts.
Now that there has been a decisive victory for President Emmanuel Macron, how significant are the other rounds of elections? How would they strengthen (or weaken) the hand of the President and his party La Republique en Marche?
Based on our Constitution, our country is run efficiently if our President and our Parliament are of the same political colour. The first half-time of the game was the Presidential election last May…which was won by Mr. Macron. His political party, La Republique En Marche! must win it (legislative) too … it will give Mr Macron full power to proceed with his centrist project.
In a way, aren’t you reaching out the same voters who actually gave a resounding mandate to President Macron?
Yes, I do. Voters have decided to give Mr Macron a chance. We have 11 constituencies representing French people living abroad. In each, you have now only two candidates running for the final round. But for the first ballot on June 4, some constituencies had up to 20 candidates! Mine had 14 candidates. In my constituency (the 11th) that goes from Ukraine to New Zealand, covering 49 countries over three continents and 10 time zones, we have 92,700 voters. It’s approximately a million voters for the 11 constituencies. The biggest is the first constituency for North America and Canada with 2,00,000 registered voters.
What is the scene in India, especially in Puducherry.
We have 6,500 registered voters in India with the vast majority being in Puducherry.
How many other candidates are you up against who would you consider your toughest competitors?
Now I’m opposed in this final round to the previous MP for our constituency, Mr Mariani who was elected in 2012. He is from the right wing party Les Républicains (the Republicans)
There’s a general feeling among voters, at least in this former French enclave (Puducherry) that their votes hardly matter in the larger scheme of elections in France? What is your message to expat voters not only here but elsewhere — that their issues can be flagged within a broader agenda of government?
French people abroad have very interesting experiences or witness, in their respective countries of residences, experiences, decisions, and organisations that might be interesting for our country. They have another vision that is an incredible asset to our decision makers.
How did your recent town hall in Delhi go?
We had a meeting with the voters, discussing, convincing is very exciting. So far, people have expressed excitement and hope for Mr Macron’s project.
The nanny of one of your sons was from Puducherry?
Yes she was! I have four sons and she was my second son’s nanny (he is now 25). It’s a great souvenir that we share. We later moved to a new place, so did she and we lost contact.
