Brussels, 05/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - Margie Sudre, overseas MEP for the UMP party which is part of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament, leader of UMP MEP delegation and Regional Councillor for la Réunion since 1993, has withdrawn from the European Elections in June 2009. She says that she cannot stand in an election that does not respect the overseas electorate.
Having campaigned for French overseas local authorities within the Parliament and having been the leader of the UMP delegation for nine years, she felt that she should have been placed at the top of the list for her electoral constituency, especially since voters from the Indian Ocean make up 40% of the constituency's electorate.
The UMP national council, however, has put her third on the list, a position that Sudre feels shows her party has disowned her. Moreover, she feels that the new system for the overseas constituency (three MEPs to be elected for the entire constituency that covers the DOM-TOM in the Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Caribbean) is anti-democratic and weakens the legitimacy of some elected members. Sudre intends, however, to remain within her political family, the UMP and the EPP. (E.M./transl.rt)