Napole Polutélé (born 25 June 1965) is a French politician.

Early life

Born on Wallis,"Napole Polutélé nouveau député de Wallis et Futuna"
Outre-Mer 1ère, 25 March 2013 he studied in

metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, then began a career as a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

history and geography teacher, first in

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

(

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

) for a year, then in his home island.

Career

He served as a member of the Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna, before entering French national politics. He stood as a candidate in the 2013 by-election for Wallis and Futuna's seat in the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

. Although he stood as an independent, he was endorsed and supported by the right-wing

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP). He was elected, in the second round on 24 March, with 37.5% of the vote, ahead of two candidates of the left. Two months later, having been elected to sit on the opposition benches (albeit officially as an independent), he joined the ranks of the

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

-led majority in the National Assembly. He explained frankly that being a member of the majority would make it easier for him to lobby the government for funds and services for his constituents - who, he said, cared little for the left-right divide prevalent in metropolitan France. He subsequently sat as an independent on the benches of the left."Le député de Wallis Napole Polutélé rejoint le Parti Socialiste"
Outre-Mer 1ère, 29 May 2013 Specifically, he promised to lobby for the setting up of a better sewerage system in the territory, and faster repairs following damage caused by a cyclone. His

crossing the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

so soon after his election caused strong reactions within the UMP, with party leader

Jean-François Copé Jean-François Copé (; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—inclu ...

describing it as "shocking" and the party's parliamentary leader Christian Jacob calling it "outrageous". His re-election in June 2017 was annulled by the Constitutional Council on 2 February 2018, forcing a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polutele, Napole 1965 births Living people Wallis and Futuna educators Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Wallis and Futuna