Paul Vergès

Paul Vergès (5 March 1925 – 11/12 November 2016) was a Réunionese politician. Born in Ubon Ratchathani, Siam to a French diplomat father and Vietnamese mother. Vergès founded the Communist Party of Réunion in 1959, a party which he led until he retired in 1993. He made a political comeback at the 2004 European Parliament elections, when he was elected as the third candidate on the list of the French Communist Party, which is part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group. Vergès sat in the European Parliament's Committee on Development.
Vergès was an MP in the National Assembly of France from 1956 to 1958, 1986 to 1987, and 1993 to 1996. He was a Senator in the French Parliament from 1996 to 2004 and again since 2011. From 1979 to 1989 and 2004 to 2007 he was a member of the European Parliament. He was president of the regional council of Réunion from 1998 to 2010, regional councillor since 2010, mayor of Le Port from 1971 to 1989, and general councillor of La Réunion from 1955 to 1967 and again from 1985 to 1998.
In the European Parliament, he was also a member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, a substitute for the Committee on Regional Development, vice-chair of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and a substitute for the delegation for relations with the countries of Central America.
Vergès died the night of 11/12 November 2016, aged 91. His twin brother was lawyer Jacques Vergès.