Paulette Guinchard-Kunstler (3 October 1949 – 4 March 2021) was a French politician. She served on 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 repre ...

representing

Doubs's 2nd constituency The 2nd constituency of Doubs ( French: ''Deuxième circonscription du Doubs'') is one of five electoral districts in the department of the same name, each of which returns one deputy to the French National Assembly in elections using the two-rou ...

as a member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

Biography

In 1983, Guinchard-Kunstler was appointed Deputy Mayor of Besançon by , a position she held until 1995, when she was elected to the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, she was elected to the National Assembly, serving in Doubs's 2nd constituency. In 2001, she left the National Assembly following her appointment as Secretary of State for the Elderly by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Lionel Jospin. That year, Robert Schwint announced his retirement as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Besançon. Guinchard-Kunstler's name was floated as a possibility, but

Jean-Louis Fousseret Jean-Louis Fousseret (born 23 December 1946) is a French politician. A member of La République En Marche!, Fousseret was Governor of the Canton of Besançon-Planoise from 1988 to 2001 and a Member of Parliament of the district of Doubs from 1 ...

obtained the Socialist Party nomination and eventually the seat. In 2002, Guinchard-Kunstler returned to the National Assembly and became a vice president, alongside Hélène Mignon. On

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

in 2005, she presided over the National Assembly and answered questions on television for one hour. In 2007, she became a part of the think tank , which was run by the Socialist Party. She decided not to seek reelection in the

2007 French legislative election The French legislative elections took place on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the French presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, inclu ...

. In 2013, Guinchard-Kunstler became head of the Fondation de gérontologie. She then launched with the Appel pour l'équité en faveur des aidants. The goal was to provide France's 10 million caregivers support and health protections. She achieved the rank of Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

on 14 April 2017. Paulette Guinchard-Kunstler died of

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

in Switzerland on 4 March 2021 at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinchard-Kunstler, Paulette 1949 births 2021 deaths 20th-century French women politicians 21st-century French women politicians Socialist Party (France) politicians Franche-Comté Regional Councillors Deputies of the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic People from Doubs Secretaries of State of France Deaths by euthanasia Officiers of the Légion d'honneur