Nowhere else outside of France do so many French people live as in Switzerland, so they send their own representation to the National Assembly. But if the Paris headquarters bucks, local sensitivities count for little.
Eleven representatives of the French abroad sit in the French National Assembly – including one person from the Swiss constituency.
The campaign is over, long live the campaign! Although the French presidential elections ended on Sunday with Emmanuel Macron’s victory, the general elections are due in June. Switzerland also plays a role here: Eleven seats in the National Assembly are reserved for foreign citizens. Because there are nowhere else outside of France as many French people as in this country, Switzerland (together with Liechtenstein) is sending its own representation to Paris.
The candidates are currently positioning themselves. What happens in the background provides enough material to write a comedy or a drama from it – depending on your point of view. With each act, one is reminded that politics works differently in France than in Switzerland.
Not a child of sadness: things have never been quiet around Joachim Son-Forget (standing), the Swiss representative in Parliament, in the last five years.
The incumbent is the busy and erratic Joachim Son-Forget, who moved into parliament in 2017 for Macron’s La République en marche. There have long been people who jokingly call him “Don’t Forget” – with his escapades, the doctor and harpsichord player kept half of France’s political elite on their toes at times. He forestalled a possible expulsion in 2018 by resigning from the party himself.
Bought by Russia?
In recent months he has become close to the movement of far-right publicist Éric Zemmour and supported him in his – ultimately rather unsuccessful – presidential campaign. His liberal economic program appealed to him, he says. So it would be obvious that the Swiss offshoot of Zemmour’s party would field Reconquête Son-Forget as the official candidate.
But it won’t come to that. A criminal complaint against Son-Forget is poisoning the climate: This was filed by Aymeric Chauprade, an ex-MP from the former National Front with close ties to Russia. Because Son-Forget accused him of venality on Twitter and once again did not shy away from verbal insults, Chauprade wants to see him convicted of defamation. The Swiss media spokesman for Reconquête, the party where Son-Forget sought shelter, acts as a lawyer.
Twitter had previously served as a battlefield. When a former police officer and author popped up out of nowhere as a reconquete candidate for the general election, Son-Forget responded in his own way: «Do you believe in Santa Claus? After you insult me like a dog, do you think I’m going to give you my constituency on behalf of a party in which I’m a key leader?” A little later, Son-Forget’s Twitter account was (again) blocked.
Broke through to Kyiv at the beginning of the war
The cockfight ended without a winner, Reconquete will not port either of the two ricochets. Son-Forget must therefore try to defend his Swiss seat in the National Assembly as a non-partisan lone fighter – but even that is not clear. The 39-year-old, who was in the first phase of the Ukraine war on his own broke through to Kyiv and according to his own statements “has provided much more concrete help than all those who sat around at home despondently”, could also compete in a French constituency. In any case, he hasn’t lost any of his self-confidence: “I don’t need a party to back me up, I’m well known.” If he is not chosen, he, the surgeon, will find “a 500,000-franc job the very next day,” he assures.
In any case, the race for the Swiss seat in the French parliament should already have run before the actual election. Emmanuel Macron achieved such high approval ratings in the presidential elections in Germany – 46 percent in the first ballot and over 80 percent in the second – that the official candidate from En Marche should easily enter the National Assembly.
You don’t have to live in your “own” constituency
But who that is will not be decided until mid-May. There are candidates for the Swiss offshoot of Macron’s party, but hopes could be shattered if Paris doesn’t want to. As is known from France, nothing happens in the parliamentary elections without the consent of the headquarters. If the selection committee of a party, for example at the behest of the president or one of his close associates, is of the opinion that person X should run in constituency Y, local sensibilities have precious little weight – because you can be a candidate even if you are not in the « own” constituency and, in extreme cases, hardly know it.
With such a “parachutage” (parachute drop), which is well known in France, deserving party officials can be rewarded or talents can be developed. It will be clear by May 20 at the latest whether Switzerland will also serve as a landing pad for such tactical electoral maneuvers this year – by then all candidatures must have been submitted.