Politics
France: Hollande cabinet – more black politicians & gender balance
President Hollande also appeared to have kept to campaign promises for gender parity in the 34-member cabinet, with 17 ministers being women.
The new cabinet, together with new prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, met for the first time on Thursday, a public holiday, in a sign that that the Socialists were set on getting to work.
In one of its first acts, the cabinet agreed to cut the President’s and ministers’ salaries by 30 percent.
The cabinet picks in France’s first socialist government in a generation, appeared as much to fulfil expectations of diversity and equality from a centre-left government as a reward for Caribbean voter support.
The French Overseas Departments, or DOMs as they are called, swung emphatically in favour of Hollande as he swept Sarkozy from power in France’s presidential election runoff on May 6.
In Guadeloupe, Hollande enjoyed his biggest victory in the region, winning 72 percent of the vote as against 28 percent for Sarkozy.
Hollande also won heavily in Martinique (68.5 percent versus Sarkozy’s 31.5 percent) and French Guiana (62 percent against 38 percent).
