Bernard Accoyer

Bernard Accoyer (born 12 August 1945 in Lyon) is a French politician who was President of the National Assembly of France from 2007 to 2012. He is also the Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux.

Accoyer, a doctor by profession, has served as Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux since March 1989; he also served as a member of the General Council of Haute-Savoie from March 1992 to March 1998. He is a deputy for the first constituency of Haute-Savoie and was first elected to the National Assembly in the March 1993 parliamentary election; he has been re-elected in each election since. He was President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly of France from 2004 to 2007.

In 2007, he was selected as the candidate of the UMP group, which has the absolute majority, for the presidency of the National Assembly. He became the President of the National Assembly on 26 June 2007.

Despite the unwritten tradition that the President of the National Assembly abstains from taking part in votes, Accoyer voted in favor of a bill providing for major constitutional changes on 21 July 2008; because the bill passed by only a one-vote margin, his vote in favor, along with that of Socialist deputy Jack Lang, was crucial.