- Title: Rookie French lawmaker reaches out from fortune-teller's van
- Date: 3rd July 2017
- Summary: CHAMPHOL, FRANCE (JUNE 26, 2017) (REUTERS) KASBARIAN TALKING TO FIREFIGHTERS IN HIS CONSTITUENCY FIRE TRUCKS FIREFIGHTER TALKING TO KASBARIAN VARIOUS OF KASBARIAN BEING SHOWN INSIDE OF VEHICLE MAINTENON, FRANCE (JUNE 26, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF JAVAUX FACTORY WHICH MAKES HI-TECH FOAM KASBARIAN GREETING EMPLOYEE ON ENTERING FACTORY KASBARIAN BEING SHOWN PRODUCTS FACTORY FLOOR EPERNON, FRANCE (JUNE 26, 2017) (REUTERS) KASBARIAN INSPECTING A POTENTIAL CARAVAN TO BUY FOR HIS POLITICAL ACTIVITIES KASBARIAN INSIDE CARAVAN KASBARIAN SITTING AT WHEEL PARIS, FRANCE (RECENT - JUNE 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) LREM MP, GUILLAUME KASBARIAN, SAYING: "Me, as a consultant, I would sometimes meet extremely conservative firms, where the limits do not shift or do not want to shift, or people say to you, 'Look we've been doing this for 20 years, stop.' My work as a consultant that I have been doing for eight years has precisely been to try to go beyond this, to say, can we not do something different, can we not take an alternative route, can we not renew our way of doing things. So this type of persistence, this pilgrim's stick that I will have - I have had it for eight years in certain companies to change them, to transform them - I think that we can also change politics, we can transform politics. So I am not worried, there will be resistance to change, but I am perfectly well-equipped and very willing to succeed in lifting these types of obstacles." PARIS, FRANCE (RECENT- JUNE 21, 2017) (REUTERS) PARLIAMENT BUILDING KASBARIAN AND OTHERS BEING SHOWN AROUND PARLIAMENT BUILDING'S GROUNDS KASBARIAN WALKING AND TALKING TO JOURNALIST VARIOUS OF KASBARIAN AND OTHERS BEING SHOWN AROUND KASBARIAN POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPH KASBARIAN INSIDE PARLIAMENT BUILDING SIGN NEXT TO CORRIDOR READING (French): "ACCESS RESERVED FOR MPS"
- Embargoed: 17th July 2017 09:46
- Keywords: Guillaume Kasbarian LREM Macron management consultant MP National Assembly Chartres
- Location: PARIS, MAINTENON, EPERNON, CHAMPHOL AND CHARTRES, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, MAINTENON, EPERNON, CHAMPHOL AND CHARTRES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0056O5Y4HZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS STORY WAS ORIGINALLY FILED ON JUNE 27, 2017 AS 2152-FRANCE-POLITICS/LAWMAKER. IT IS BEING REFILED WITH NO CHANGES MADE TO THE ORIGINAL EDIT.
New French lawmaker Guillaume Kasbarian dreams of criss-crossing his constituency once a week to meet voters in a red and green fortune-teller's caravan that is for sale in a local garage.
The 30-year old business consultant is one of an army novices whose election to parliament last month for President Emmanuel Macron's new Republic on the Move party completed a seismic shift in France's political landscape.
Kasbarian had never been involved in politics before joining the independent centrist party when it was set up a year ago.
Now he wants to put the spark back into politics in his Eure-et-Loir constituency south west of Paris to reengage disillusioned voters who stayed away from the ballot box in record numbers.
Some 415 of the 577 lawmakers are newcomers, elected to a younger, more diverse parliament that began sitting on June 27.
The 30-year-old political rookie Kasbarian won his parliamentary seat in his constituency in Chartres against long-term conservative mayor of the town Jean-Pierre Gorges who had held the parliamentary seat since 2002.
Reuters followed Kasbarian on his new daily lawmaker duties on Monday (June 26) as he visited a fire station and a hi-tech foam factory, and on his quest to find his caravan.
He visited French parliament last week for the first time to receive his lawmaker's tool-kit, including a tri-coloured scarf and parliament's rule book, all inside a leather briefcase.
Kasbarian said he was well aware of the difficulties ahead, would be loyal to Macron and will make his voice heard. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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