Rachel Keke Raïssa (; born 30 May 1974) is an Ivorian-born French politician and former chambermaid. A member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

since 2022, she represents the 7th constituency of the

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

department. She is a member of

La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (FI or LFI; ; "France Unbowed") is a left-wing populist political party in France, launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It ai ...

(LFI).

Early life

Keke was born on 30 May 1974 in

Abobo Abobo is a northern suburb of Abidjan and one of the 10 urban communes of this city in Ivory Coast. Abobo is one of the most populated communes in the country with about 1.3 million inhabitants in an area of 6,925 ha (69.25 km2), a den ...

, Ivory Coast. Her father was a bus driver and her mother sold clothing, until her death when Keke was 12. Her grandfather fought with the French forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. At the age of 16, she began working as a hairdresser and other little jobs. Keke moved to France in 2000 (following the

1999 Ivorian coup d'état The 1999 Ivorian coup d'état took place on 24 December 1999. It was the first coup d'état since the independence of Ivory Coast and led to the President Henri Konan Bédié being deposed. Background Ever since independence in 1960, Ivory C ...

that overthrew

Henri Konan Bédié Aimé Henri Konan Bédié (born 5 May 1934) is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Ivory Coast from 1993 to 1999. He is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).

), taking up a job as a hairdresser in the hair salon of a relative, also finding work as a chambermaid and housekeeper. She was

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

as a French citizen in 2015.

Career

Union leader

A CGT trade union representative between 2019 and 2021, she was one of the leaders of a successful at the

Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

hotel in

Batignolles Batignolles () is a neighbourhood of Paris, part of its 17th arrondissement. The neighbourhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Avenue de Clichy, on the north by Rue Cardinet and on the west by the Rue ...

, Paris. Twenty workers, employed as subcontractors, struck for better pay and improved working conditions beginning in July 2019, and signed an agreement winning virtually all their demands in May 2021.

2022 elections

In the first round of the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France were held on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in ...

, Keke was a candidate for

(LFI) on the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) slate, the left-wing alliance of political parties. Running for the 7th constituency of the

department, Keke finished first with 37.22% of the vote; Roxana Maracineanu, former Sports Minister and Olympic silver medalist swimmer, came in second, making the runoff with 23.77%. Keke's campaign focused on outreach to non-voters, while Maracineanu called for a "republican front against the far left"; this drew criticism from the NUPES who saw this as equating them with France's extreme right. In the second and final round, Keke won by 177 votes, scoring 51.38% of the vote against 48.62% for Maracineanu. A profile by ''

France24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Mo ...

'' noted that Keke's election (along with other newly elected deputies such as

Rassemblement national The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

's Katiana Levavasseur) indicated a growing trend of elected politicians from lower economic backgrounds taking up office.

Personal life

Keke has five children. In 2016, she married Bobby Yodé, a

zouglou Zouglou ( , ) is a dance oriented style of music originated from Ivory Coast during the mid-1990s. It started with students from a college of Gagnoa drawing on elements of other styles of music. Zouglou recounts the various social realities ...

musician.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keke, Rachel 1974 births Living people Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Ivorian people Trade unionists from Paris La France Insoumise politicians Naturalized citizens of France French people of Ivorian descent People from Abidjan Black French politicians