A former cleaner recently elected to France's parliament on a left-wing alliance ticket has admitted to sharing posts years ago in support of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but insisted she had changed her views.<\/p>\n
Hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) MP Rachel Keke beat French President Emmanuel Macron's former sports minister Roxana Maracineanu in Sunday's legislative elections that saw Macron lose his majority.<\/p>\n
Keke made a name for herself after winning a gruelling 22-month-long battle for better working conditions in the Paris hotel where she cleaned, sparking LFI's proposal that she run for MP as part of the broad NUPES left-wing alliance.<\/p>\n
Days after being elected, messages surfaced that appear to show her support for Le Pen and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose Russia- and Iran-backed regime is accused of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
Keke, 48, allegedly shared posts backing Le Pen during the 2017 election and content from the far-right website Fdesouche, according to Fdesouche itself, which compiled a series of posts.<\/p>\n
On Facebook Keke did not deny the allegations but insisted she had changed since a labour struggle against global hotel giant Accor, which owns the Ibis hotel where she worked.<\/p>\n
\"A few years ago, I shared on Facebook posts that absolutely do not reflect who I am and what I stand for today in my political struggle,\" Keke said late on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"I learnt a lot from my union battle and the fight at Ibis Batignolles... As MP for LFI and NUPES, I fully share the struggles and values of these organisations,\" Keke added.<\/p>\n
But critics, including defeated MP Maracineanu, slammed Keke for the posts.<\/p>\n
\"She shared racist and homophobic posts. I remind (you) that it's an offence. But she assures us that she's changed. All is well. Her voters will judge,\" Maracineanu said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
After winning on Sunday, Keke said she would bring the \"voices of the voiceless\" to parliament.<\/p>\n
Born in Ivory Coast, Keke arrived in France aged 26 in 2000.<\/p>\n
She worked as a hairdresser before becoming a hotel cleaning lady, and was naturalised in 2015.<\/p>\n
She is part of a string of MPs from more diverse profiles mostly from LFI and Le Pen's party, National Rally, to have been elected to parliament in the legislative elections, although MPs from a well-off socioeconomic background remain the rule.<\/p>\n
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A former cleaner recently elected to France's parliament on a left-wing alliance ticket has admitted to sharing posts years ago in support of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but insisted she had changed her views. Hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) MP Rachel Keke beat French President Emmanuel Macron's former sports minister Roxana Maracineanu in Sunday's legislative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,2576],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-102593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed","category-fil-d-actualite"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n