With French expats around the world preparing to elect representatives to the country’s National Assembly for the first time, RT sat down with Senator Christophe-Andre Frassa to talk about the new system.
Eager to involve more French people residing abroad in the country’s politics, the French government has divided the world into 11 zones and reserved a seat in the assembly for each respective zone.
“This is the first time that French people abroad will elect 11 members of parliament directly,” Frassa told RT. “Russia is part of the zone that starts at the Belarusian and Ukrainian border and ends in New Zealand. It’s about third of the planet – 55 countries.”
Frassa believes that it is important that all French expats participate into the homeland’s lawmaking.
“It’s important to maintain the little tiny string between France and all the French communities around the world,” Frassa told RT. “They need it and deserve it, as some of the French laws immediately influence the lives of people who live in Moscow, New York, Beijing and so on.”
Speaking about forthcoming presidential elections, Frassa said that he is going to support the acting president.
“It’s always different when the candidate is the president,” Frassa said. “He has to convince [voters] that not only his ideas for the next term, but also of the past term, are worth reelecting him,” he said. “It’s a challenge. President Sarkozy, I believe, has done all the reforms France needed: the retirement system, the territorial system, the universities.”