Samia Ghali

Samia Ghali was born on 10 June 1968 in Marseille, in the South of France.[1][2][3] She grew up in Bassens and Campagne Lévêque, two council estates in Marseille, where she was raised by her Algerian-born grandparents.[2][3]

She received a Certificat d'Aptitude Professionnelle (CAP), or professional certificate, as a secretary and accountant.[3]

Ghali became active in politics at the age of sixteen.[3] She became a city councillor of Marseille in 2001.[2]

Since 2008, she has served as a Senator for Bouches-du-Rhône.[1][2] She also serves as the Mayor of the 15th and 16th arrondissements of Marseille.[1][2]

In 2012, she suggested the French Army should be sent to the neighbourhoods of Northern Marseille to put an end to drug-trafficking.[3] In June 2015, her own chauffeur was arrested by the French police in a drug-trafficking raid in La Castellane.[4] She said she was "shocked" and "astounded".[4]

In the 2020 local elections, Ghali ran for mayor of Marseille, though the Socialist Party's official stance was to support the Printemps marseillais ("Marseille Spring") coalition headed by Europe Ecology – The Greens candidate Michèle Rubirola. Benoît Payan, the city's Socialist leader, accused Ghali of splitting the left-wing vote.[5] Later that year, after Rubirola's resignation, Ghali's contingent of eight councillors voted in favour of Payan becoming the new mayor.[6]

Her second husband is Franck Dumontel, a political administrator.[2] She has four children.[2]