Sonia Backès (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Dos Santos; born 21 May 1976) is a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
politician in
New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
. She is the current leader of the
Caledonian Republicans
The Caledonian Republicans (french: Les Républicains calédoniens; abbreviated LRC) is a liberal-conservative political party in New Caledonia. The party's founding congress was held on 7 December 2017 at Nouvata Hotel in the capital Nouméa, bu ...
party and the President of the Provincial Assembly of
South Province since May 17, 2019.
In 2022, she was appointed Secretary of State for Citizenship in the
Borne government
The Borne government is the forty-third government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 16 May 2022 and headed by Élisabeth Borne as Prime Minister under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
Context Formation
On 16 May 2022, Jean Castex ...
.
Background
Born Sonia Dos Santos, she is the daughter of language teachers. Her grandparents on her father's side were Protestant émigrés from Portugal, fleeing Catholicism and the authoritairian
Estado Novo regime of
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...
, arriving in Nouméa in 1952. She attended the lycée Lapérouse de Nouméa, graduating in 1992. She joined the right-wing RPCR party (Rassemblement pour la Calédonie dans la République) in 1994 at the age of 18. She studied at the precursor of the
University of New Caledonia
The University of New Caledonia UNC (''Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie'') is a French university which is part of the Academy of New Caledonia located in Nouméa.
The university goes back to 1987 when the ''Université Française du Pacifi ...
(UNC), the Université française du Pacifique à Nouméa, also gaining a Masters in Mathematics from the University of Pau in France in 1997, and becoming a qualified computer engineer in 2001 after study at the Université Joseph-Fourier and the Institut polytechnique in Grenoble.
Her first job in Nouméa was at the government DTSI (direction des Technologies et Services de l'Information), while also teaching part time at the UNC. In the mid 2000s she worked in trades unions, notably for the CFE-CGC before quitting in 2008 to enter politics.
She is married to Éric Backès, and has two children.
Political career
She has been associated with several political parties at territorial and provincial levels, holding portfolios ranging from education and schooling to energy, finance, taxation, the digital economy, and higher education. She was with the RPCR
Rally for Caledonia in the Republic
The Rally (french: Le Rassemblement; until 2004 Rally for Caledonia in the Republic, french: Rassemblement pour une Calédonie dans la République; from 2004 to 2014 Rally–UMP) is a conservative political party in New Caledonia, strongly suppor ...
until 2004, then the Rassemblement-UMP (
The Rally–UMP
The Rally (french: Le Rassemblement; until 2004 Rally for Caledonia in the Republic, french: Rassemblement pour une Calédonie dans la République; from 2004 to 2014 Rally–UMP) is a conservative political party in New Caledonia, strongly suppor ...
) (2004-2013). By 2012 she was part of a right faction within the UMP calling for a stronger commitment to anti-independence, or 'loyalist' values. She was suspended by
Pierre Frogier
Pierre Frogier (born 16 November 1950, Nouméa, New Caledonia) is a French politician, who was President of the Government of New Caledonia from 2001 to 2004. He has been French senator for New Caledonia since 2011, and was member of the Nati ...
in 2013, who said "your political line embodies all the conservatisms and all the archaisms by taking us back 25 years, far from the daring and innovative project that the Rassemblement carries today”. Gaël Yanno and his supporters, including Sonia Backès, created the Caledonian Popular Movement (MPC, Mouvement populaire calédonien) which then won the elections, placing her in a strong position. She moved into the Républicains de Nouvelle-Calédonie (LR-NC) from 2015-2017 and the Républicains calédoniens (RC) from 2017. She became President of the Provincial Assembly of
South Province in 2019.
2021
Backès remains strongly opposed to an independent New Caledonia, and this is also the position of her political party. In the runup to a
third referendum on independence from France (held in late 2021), she travelled to New York to address the United Nations on 17 June 2021, telling the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation that “in New Caledonia, there is no longer an administering power and a colonised people.”
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backes, Sonia
New Caledonian women in politics
The Rally (New Caledonia) politicians
Living people
1976 births
Members of the Congress of New Caledonia
Union for a Popular Movement politicians
People from Nouméa
New Caledonian people of French descent
French people of Portuguese descent
21st-century French women politicians
Members of the Borne government
Women government ministers of France