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 ''Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea'' is a prose collection by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was the first major work by Longfellow and it was inspired by his travels in Europe as a young man. The term "outre-mer" is French fo ...

, 25 March 2013 he studied in

metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, then began a career as a secondary school history and geography teacher, first in

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French 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 island, Grande Terre, and ...

( New Caledonia) for a year, then in his home island.

Career

He served as a member of the

Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna The Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna (French: ''Assemblée Territoriale''; Wallisian language, Wallisian and Futunan language, Futunan: ''Fono fakatelituale'') is the legislature of Wallis and Futuna. It consists of 20 members, elected ...

, before entering French national politics. He stood as a candidate in the

2013 by-election Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

for Wallis and Futuna's seat in the French National Assembly. 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 (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...

(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 a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

-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 parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...

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, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polutele, Napole 1965 births Living people Wallis and Futuna politicians 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