New President has new recruits for parliamentary elections

A female fighter pilot, a farmer, a teacher, people out of work. They all applied for the job — and got it, among more than 19,000 people hoping to become candidates in next month’s elections for the French Parliament under the banner of President- elect Emmanuel Macron.

Renewing a political landscape long bogged down with out- of- touch parties and long- serving politicians was a central campaign promise and the eclectic mix of candidates speaks to Macron’s desire to pull the plug on a system he deems broken.

Yesterday, his Republic on the Move party announced an initial slate of 428 candidates for France’s 577- seat National Assembly. It was a pot- pourri of citizens, more than half of whom, like Macron, have never held elected office. Their shared goal: to deliver Macron the parliamentary majority he needs to govern effectively and pull France out of its economic doldrums and social funk.

The average age of the candidates who made the cut is 46 — compared to 60 for the outgoing assembly. Half are women and half are men. Only 5 per cent — 24 — were lawmakers in the outgoing Parliament, all Socialists.

“Our candidates signal the permanent return of the citizen to the heart of our political life,” party secretary- general Richard Ferrand said in announcing the partial slate.

The candidates offer a taste of how Macron’s grassroots, startup- style movement sought to recruit outside the circle of career politicians.

Among them i s Jean- Michel Fauvergue, the commander of the elite RAID police unit that took down the Isis ( Islamic State) cell that carried out the November 13, 2015, Paris attacks, including its ring leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was killed in the operation. Another is Claire Tassadit Houd, whose sister, Djamila, was among the 130 people killed in the attacks. Would- be candidates were asked to sign up on the party’s website and submit a resume and letter explaining their motivation. More than 19,000 applied and resumes are still coming in.

“I signed up right from the beginning,” said Jean- Baptiste Moreau, a 40- year- old farmer who is contesting a seat in the Creuse region of central France where he lives.

Moreau said he was drawn by the profile of the 39- year- old Macron, who will be France’s youngest President when he takes office tomorrow, and by the party’s efforts to make grassroots ideas part of its campaign platform.

“If I’m elected, I don’t want to become a political professional. I’ll serve one or two terms,” he said.

Mireille Robert, who heads a primary school in a village of 000 people in the Aude region of southwestern France, will be up against a local Socialist Party heavyweight.

In a telephone interview, the 55- year- old Robert said one of her main motives for getting into politics under Macron’s banner is fighting the rise of political extremism in France.

Macron, a centrist upstart, won Sunday’s presidential election by a landslide, defeating far- right candidate Marine Le Pen, who had hoped to ride the wave of rising nationalism in Europe. Despite her defeat, Le Pen achieved the highest- ever score for her National Front party, which has a history of anti- Semitism and racism. Far- left leader Jean- Luc Melenchon got nearly 20 per cent of the vote in the first- round vote.