Un candidato a las legislativas francesas pide llevar el reconocimiento marroquí del Sáhara a la Asamblea Nacional

With the Sahara in the background, the candidate for the 9th constituency of the French abroad, Mehdi Reddad, addresses voters and announces his intention to bring the debate on Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara to the French lower house. 

Reddad's campaign message has not gone unnoticed and has attracted attention. The Franco-Moroccan candidate intends to put Morocco's recognition of Western Sahara to a "solemn" vote in the national assembly. The candidate argues that French diplomacy should align itself with the position of Spain and the United States on the Sahara. Reddad speaks of "sacralising" exceptional relations between France and Morocco with this motion for a resolution in the National Assembly. 

Reddad thus gains special notoriety in Morocco, which, with 50,000 expatriates, is the country with the highest number of French in the 9th constituency and will therefore have a decisive weight in the elections.  Since the 2008 constitutional reform, the French legislative elections have had 11 new international constituencies spread throughout the world, each of which appoints one deputy. This 9th constituency covers the countries of North and West Africa. 

Mehdi Reddad (1941) is a French-Moroccan born and based in Casablanca, from a business background. His academic career took him to France to graduate in management in Lyon and then to Sciences Po Paris for a master's degree in executive management.  

Back in Morocco, the family business awaited him: the hotel business. The Reddad family built up a successful hotel business in the Beni Mellal region in central Morocco, which the candidate for the parliamentary elections inherited when the time came. 

He was elected consular representative of the French in Casablanca while remaining close to La République en Marche. In 2017, when 9th constituency MP M'jid El Guerrab was embroiled in a messy trial that ended up convicting and disabling him, all fingers were pointed at Reddad to keep the party's ranks in order in the African constituency. 

His campaign is built around a sort of idea of françafrique and appeals to a romantic idea of the former French territory through the figure of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. His campaign debuted in Tarfaya and El Aiún, where he recorded his electoral message, and continued south to Senegal, following the French writer's aerial postal route.

He is running as the standard-bearer of former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and his Horizons initiative, which supports the presidential majority, Emmanuel Macron's coalition. If the position of Reddad, who claims to be in the heart of Morocco, referring to El Ayoun, is clear, this is not the case for Horizons. Atalayar has not been able to ascertain whether Reddad's position on Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara is shared, or at least endorsed by his political formation. 

France has taken no further steps on the Sahara dossier. Following Spain's change of position, a press release from the Quai d'Orsay described the French government's stance as "constant", as well as valuing the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for the Sahara as a serious and credible basis for dialogue.

Reddad will face 21 other candidates in the elections. The first round will take place between Friday 27 May and 1 June. The second round is scheduled for 10-15 June. Elisabeth Moreno is emerging as Reddad's main rival. Moreno was a member of the Castex government until before the campaign began. She does not belong to any political party, but is running under the signature of Macron's presidential coalition. Moreno, of Cape Verdean origin, is a former Secretary of State for Equality and has long experience in the technology sector. 

In the presidential election that crowned Macron as president for the second time, the French expatriate community rallied behind his candidacy. It is likely that something similar will happen in the legislative elections, favouring the candidates who are closest to the current president of the republic.