Sophia Chikirou (; born 3 June 1979) is a French politician who has represented the 6th constituency of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 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 repr ...

since 22 May 2022. A member of

La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was 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 aims to implement th ...

(FI), she was elected to Parliament in the first round of the 2022 legislative election. Chikirou has also served as a member of the

Regional Council of Île-de-France The Regional Council of Île-de-France () is the regional council of Île-de-France, France's most populous administrative region. Made up of 209 regional councillors elected for 6 years, it is headquartered in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, just north ...

since

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Political career

A native of

Bonneville, Haute-Savoie Bonneville (; ) is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 12,557. Geography Bonneville is on the A40 autoroute, roughly halfway between ...

, Chikirou grew up in Scionzier. She joined 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 ...

in 1997. From 2002 to 2007, Chikirou worked as a parliamentary assistant for Michel Charzat, who represented the 21st constituency of

in the National Assembly. She was excluded from the party in 2006 along with Charzat after they refused to rally behind George Pau-Langevin, the party's nominee for 2007 legislative election in the constituency. Charzat ran for reelection as a Socialist dissident under the

miscellaneous left Miscellaneous left (', ''DVG'') in France refers to left-wing candidates who are not members of any party or a member of party that has no elected seats. They include either small left-wing parties or dissidents expelled from their parties for r ...

label with Chikirou as his substitute but was defeated. As a member of

since 2016, she was

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...

's presidential campaign communications director in the 2017 election. In the 2022 legislative election, she was elected to Parliament for the 6th constituency of

, where she succeeded one-term incumbent

Pierre Person Pierre Person (born 22 January 1989) is a French crypto executive and former politician who has served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Usual Money since 2022. Previously, he served as the member of the National Assembly for the 6th cons ...

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...

who declined to run for reelection. Sophia Chikirou has been a close associate of

since 2011, serving as his press officer and later as his communications director during the 2012 and 2017 presidential campaigns. She founded the communications agency Mediascop, which managed Mélenchon's media strategy, introducing innovative techniques such as hologram appearances during rallies. Chikirou's influence extended beyond campaign periods, as she remained a key figure in shaping Mélenchon's public image and communication strategies. In September 2024, Chikirou was indicted for aggravated fraud and misuse of corporate assets in connection with the 2017 presidential campaign of La France Insoumise. Authorities allege that her company, Mediascop, overbilled services, resulting in substantial profits that she reportedly allocated to herself through bonuses and dividends. Chikirou denies these accusations, asserting that there was neither overbilling nor personal enrichment. The 2025 investigative book ''La Meute'' by Charlotte Belaïch and Olivier Pérou examines the internal dynamics of La France Insoumise, highlighting Chikirou's significant influence within the movement. The authors suggest that both Mélenchon and Chikirou contributed to an authoritarian atmosphere, drawing parallels to sect-like behavior. The book also raises concerns about antisemitic tendencies within the party, attributing some controversial remarks to Chikirou.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chikirou, Sophia 1979 births Living people People from Bonneville, Haute-Savoie French people of Algerian descent Socialist Party (France) politicians Modern Left politicians Left Party (France) politicians La France Insoumise politicians Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Paris Women members of the National Assembly (France) Members of the Regional Council of Île-de-France 21st-century French women politicians Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University alumni