Marie-Laure Phinéra-Horth (born 28 June 1957) is a French politician, who was the first woman from

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

to be appointed to the

French Senate The Senate (, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' and ...

in 2020. Prior to her role as a senator, she was mayor of

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

from 2010.

Biography

Phinéra-Horth joined the

Guianese Socialist Party The Guianese Socialist Party (, PSG) is a socialist political party in the French '' overseas région'' of French Guiana, in South America. History It was founded in 1956 by Justin Catayée, beforehand the founder of the Guianese federation of ...

(PSG) in 1988, of which she was treasurer for two years. She was elected as a municipal councillor of

in 1995, re-elected in 2001 and 2008. From 1995 to 2008 she was the sixth deputy to mayor Jean-Claude Lafontaine; then first deputy to his successor Rodolphe Alexandre. When the latter acceded to the presidency of the regional council, she was elected to succeed him as mayor on 8 April 2010. Supported by both the PSG and Walwari, in 2014 Phinéra-Horth left Alexandre's “Guiana 73” movement. On 23 March 2014, she was re-elected and won the municipal elections in the first round with 6,976 votes, or 69.75%. She was officially invested by the municipal council on 28 March. On 20 May 2016, she founded a new political party - Guyana's New Force ( fr), which is primarily active in Cayenne. Leading an NFG-Walwari-PSG-Guyane Écologie union list, she again won the 2020 elections with 60.46% of the vote. Phinéra-Horth was elected French Guiana's first female senator on 27 September 2020. In May 2021, as part of an appearance on the television programme ''Politik Hebdo'', Phinéra-Horth revealed that she was opposed to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccinations Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

. In February 2022, she was taken to court, accused of falsely collecting a salary as a speech therapist during her time as mayor from 2013 to 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phinéra-Horth, Marie-Laure 1957 births Living people Senators of French Guiana Mayors of Cayenne French Guianan women in politics French anti-vaccination activists French senators elected by the National Assembly Guianese Socialist Party politicians Women members of the Senate (France)