Zeenews Bureau
Paris: With presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled next year, the French government is all set to allow its diaspora to choose its own expat MPs, a report published in a London newspaper said.
Around 2.5 million French people stay abroad. The authorities in Paris have decided to divide the world into 11 constituencies. This will give France an opportunity to elect MPs who would represent for the US and Canada and other countries.
The MP for "northern Europe" will represent French people in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
UK has the highest number of French people. Around 300,000 of the 400,000 live in London, and so it is destined to be a hot rallying point for President Niocolas Sarkozy. It may be noted that Sarkozy campaigned in London during his presidential election campaign in 2007.
Interestingly, Sarkozy got a majority number of votes from French expats living worldwide.
The newspaper quoted Emmanuelle Savarit, the north European candidate for Sarkozy`s ruling UMP party, who runs her own consultancy firm in London, saying: "The aim is not just to give a voice to French people abroad, but to bring Paris some inspiration from how things are done in other countries. People`s main concerns are tax, education, health and pensions."
