Sunday, April 21, should have been Marine Le Pen's day to shine. As part of her visit to the French overseas department of Mayotte, she had her supporters applaud Saidali Boina Hamissi. The leader of the Rassemblement National's (RN, far-right) group of MPs had just announced that her party's representative on the overseas department was joining its list of candidates for the June 9 European elections, led by the party's president, Jordan Bardella. The announcement was made before some 300 members of several citizens' collectives, gathered at the Ngwézi crossroads in the island's south at the invitation of the Committee for the Defence of Mayotte's Interests (CODIM). This crossroads was one of the sites of the most radical protests against the government during a crisis that led to roadblocks in February.
The far-right party leader hailed Bardella's "historic" decision to place a Mayotte native, on his list for the European elections "for the first time." Although Hamissi was only in 41st position, with no chance of being elected, it was a way of "supporting Mayotte, which is in a dispiriting situation," asserted Le Pen, to a round of applause.
The candidacy of the party's representative was as unprecedented as it was short-lived. Faced with the uproar sparked by posts on his Facebook page, Hamissi has been removed from the RN list, as public broadcaster Franceinfo reported on April 24. At issue were "racist and conspiratorial" comments he had made, which had been revealed by the newspaper Libération on Monday. In September 2017, he had referred to Comorian residents of a neighborhood of the Mayotte city of Mamoudzou as "vermin" and "cockroaches."
The day after his presence on the RN list was announced, two French ministers were quick to criticize him. Hamissi had "taken part in conspiracy theories, and made extremely serious and dangerous remarks about women concerning their supposed submission to their spouses," accused government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot. "Sexist, racist and an admirer of the Russian president. In short, the ideal candidate for the Rassemblement National," added Marie Guévenoux, junior minister for French overseas territories.
When asked about the words "vermin" and "cockroaches" used by their candidate, RN vice-president Sébastien Chenu said he was "not a fan of these kinds of expressions," which "shock" him. However, he added: "When you push people to the limit, you shouldn't be surprised if an expression is a bit crude." This was a reference to the situation in the French department, where the "Mayotte Place Nette" operation against gang crime, illegal immigration and illegal housing began last week.
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