Politics
France: Hollande cabinet – more black politicians & gender balance
Christiane Taubira., Incoming French Minister of Justice
In an unprecedented move in French politics, three black politicians, two of them women and all from France’s overseas departments in the Caribbean, joined President Francois Hollande’s cabinet as its held its first meeting Thursday.
In the most senior appointment, Christiane Taubira, from French Guiana, has been named minister of justice in the new Socialist government, becoming the first black woman to made a full minister.
Rama Yade, originally from Senegal, had risen to the level of junior minister in the previous Nicolas Sarkozy administration.
Taubira, 60, considered to be on the left of the Socialist Party, is the author of the 2001 “Taubira Law” which officially recognises the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
In 2002, Taubira, a divorced mother of four, was the first person from the French Caribbean, the first woman, and the first person of color to become a presidential candidate.
Two other ministers, both from Guadeloupe, which gave candidate Hollande his biggest margin of victory in the Caribbean, have been named ministers in the Hollande administration.
Victorin Lurel is the new minister in charge of overseas departments while George Pau-Langevin, for years the only black MP from mainland France in Parliament, representing the French capital, has been named junior minister for educational success.
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).
But it was a more closely fought duel in shopping haven, St. Martin (51.5 percent for Hollande against 48.5 percent for Sarkozy), which shares sovereignty with Dutch St Maarten.
And only the luxury resort island of St Barts repelled the swing against the conservative incumbent as Sarkozy claimed victory there by 82.7 percent to 17.3 percent.