A Bloc Quebecois MP with Canadian and French citizenships boasted about voting in the French legislative elections and said she was “delighted” with surprise results that saw a coalition of far-left parties surge.
A number of Quebecers voted in the election, with 260,000 French citizens living in the province. Among those who voted was a sitting Canadian MP.
In an X post following the reveal of exit polls Sunday, Terrebonne Bloc MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne, wrote, “I’m a French citizen, I voted in the legislative elections and I’m delighted with the result of the French elections.”
Sinclair-Desgagne has both French and Canadian citizenship.
“I did not campaign because I am above all a Quebec elected official,” she added. “Now that democracy has spoken: Long live France.”
According to X, she posted her statement from Nice, France.
The right-wing Rassemblement National led by Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen was expected to win the second round of the elections Sunday, having led
in the first round of balloting with 33.1 % of the votes.
However, that hope was shattered when the New Popular Front, a far-left coalition of several parties including La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, the Ecologists, and the French Communist Party, came out on top with 182 seats.
The centrist “Ensemble” coalition, which included Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, won 168 seats, while the Rassemblement National received 142 seats.
The centre-right French republicans received 46 seats and other parties won 42 seats.
France’s right-wing defeat came amid centrist and far-left parties teaming up to drop candidates out in key races to lower the chance of vote splitting to the benefit of Rassemblement National.
As a result, many races had only two candidates instead of three.
Sinclair-Desgagne was not the only Bloc Quebecois official to comment on the French election results. Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet also weighed in.
“We’ve been hearing a lot, particularly in the regions here in Quebec, about a French election that seemed to come on top of a right-wing surge with extreme tendencies (albeit of a different kind) in the United States and Canada.” he wrote on X. “But France resisted. It’s a joy!”
Blanchet added that “it’s not all over in the USA either” and claimed that “Quebec will also resist!”
In the past, Canadian politicians have faced criticism for holding dual citizenship.
Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer faced backlash for having dual Canadian-American citizenship. Scheer was born in Canada, but his father is American and gave citizenship to him and his siblings.
Scheer had vowed to renounce his U.S. citizenship. He however backtracked after losing the 2019 federal election.
Former federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and former federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion also faced criticism for having dual Canadian-French citizenship.
While individuals with dual citizenship are allowed to sit in the Canadian parliament, other countries have taken more hard line stances on the matter.
In Australia, those with dual citizenship are barred from running for federal office. In 2017 and 2018, a dozen Australian MPs and senators were kicked out for being dual citizens.
Sinclair-Desgagne’s office did not return a request for comment.