Jean-Paul de Tontcuq

The Right Honourable Jean-Paul de Tontcuq AOA OMM
File:Jeanmarielepen-profile-harounaaron (cropped).png
President of the Esquarian Football Association
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 January 2013
President of the Aininian Football Association
In office 30 August 1997 – 18 September 2011
Preceded by	André de Beaurivage
Succeeded by	Jean-Christophe Prévost
Mercier Minister of Education, Youth Services and Sport
In office 13 June 1991 – 30 August 1997
Deputy of the Mercier Assembly for Géroux-l'Hermitage
In office 14 June 1986 – 30 August 1997
Personal details
Born	(1949-06-23) 23 June 1949 Avran, Mercier, Ainin
Nationality	Aininian
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Marie de Tontcuq
Alma mater	University of Dartan
Profession	Administrator
Awards	Concordia Ribbon Distinguished Service Bar
Military service
Allegiance	Ainin
Branch/service	File:Ainarmy.png Aininian Army
Years of service	1970-73
Rank	Corporal
Unit	49th Infantry Brigade
Battles/wars	Concordian War Battle of Libreville Battle of Al-Shshati

Jean-Paul Bachelet Duval, Baron of Tontcuq _{AOA OMM} (born 23 June 1949) is the current president of the Esquarian Football Association. Prior to his current office, he has served three terms in the Mercier Assembly, the legislature of Mercier, and was the provincial Education Minister from 1991 until 1997, when he resigned his political offices to assume the presidency of the Aininian Football Association.

He became President of the Esquarian Football Association on 16 January 2013 after the previous holder retired. He is the first Aininian to hold the office.

Early life

Tontcuq was born in Avran, Mercier on 23 June 1949 to Jacques and Anne de Tontcuq, an aristocratic family hailing from northern Mercier. His father owned a car factory in the city, which was taken over by Fonan in 1956. He moved to the provincial capital of Dartan at age 7 when his father became an executive at the conglomerate and attended the elite Saint-Martin Secondary School. He attended the University of Dartan, where he met his future spouse in 1969.

In March 1970, he was conscripted into the Aininian Army under the terms of the Fourth Amendment and joined the 49th Infantry Brigade, a unit of the XIII Corps based in Boisgorgnes, Mercier. He was deployed to the theatre in late 1970, and his unit fought in the Battle of Libreville and Battle of Al-Shshati before being relieved by the 4th Marine Infantry Brigade in January 1971. He spent the rest of the war in Libreville, where his unit policed the University District. After the end of the war, he returned to Mercier and remained in the Army Reserve as he continued his studies. He married Marie in 1972 in a civil ceremony.

He was honourably discharged in February 1973 with a Distinguished Service Bar and received his Master of Business Administration in 1978.

Career

Politics

After a brief stint as a mid-level manager at Fonan, he was laid off in the aftermath of the Recession of 1980. He then used his family connections to obtain a job as a financial manager for the Aininian Football Association, where he worked between 1981 and 1986. In 1986, he obtained the nomination of the local Rally of the Democrats party branch to run for the vacant Mercier Assembly seat of Géroux-l'Hermitage, a high-income suburb of Dartan. In the 1986 provincial election, he was elected with 53.2% of the popular vote and became a government deputy. He was re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1990 provincial election.

In 1991, he became Minister of Education, Youth Services and Sports in the 1st Tremblay ministry after a cabinet reshuffle. He controversially pushed through compulsory physical education in Mercier's secondary schools and an updated sex education curriculum that proved unpopular with his own party. However, he remained fairly popular and was endorsed by the National Federation of Educators. His advocacy for the Dartan Stadium, and subsequent formation of Dartan FC, was instrumental in its approval by provincial regulators. In 1994, he was re-elected by a wide margin and continued serving as Education Minister. He ordered a comprehensive review of standardised testing in the province, whose results contributed to the creation of a national science curriculum in 1999.

Aininian Football Association

He resigned from his political posts on 30 August 1997 after being offered the presidency of the Aininian Football Association (AFA). His appointment was controversial at the time, with critics accusing the government of cronyism and noting Tontcuq's inexperience. Nonetheless, he assumed office in August as scheduled and began his decade-long tenure as AFA president. During his tenure, the first tier Ligue Nationale was expanded from 18 to 22 teams and the Stade d'Ainin was built as a home stadium for FC Huimont. In 2004, the AFA was involved in the Fort-Françilien doping scandal, leading to Tontcuq to issue unprecedented sanctions against three teams of the Ligue Nationale.

Tontcuq was accused in 2006 by the newspaper Le Devoir of taking bribes in selling television broadcast rights to Canal Trois for the below-market rate of Ł8.9 million, but fervently denied the claims. He sued the Devoir in court for libel and obtained a Ł1 million judgement from the Court of the Republic for Isle-Royale.

In 2009, the AFA came under criticism for lax security after the Hibourg Stadium tragedy, where 14 were killed in a stampede triggered by a defective fire alarm. Under his leadership, the association collaborated with the state commission of inquiry, which in February 2011 largely absolved AFA of blame in the incident. He retired on 18 September 2011, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. He was succeeded as AFA President by Jean-Christophe Prévost.

Esquarian Football Association

Tontcuq was elected President of the Esquarian Football Association by its Congress in November 2012 and assumed office on 16 January 2013. He supervised over the transition from the Esquarian Football Classic to the Coupe d'Esquarium. In response to controversies after the Coupe d'Esquarium V, he proposed a ban on alcohol in stadia and moved to prohibit Luziyca from sending clubs as part of the Luziyca national football team. Both measures were later passed by the EFA Executive Council.

Personal life

He has been married to Marie de Tontcuq (née Proulx) since August 1972. The couple have no children. They reside in Pontnouveau, Francilie, but also own the Tontcuq ancestral home in Avran, Mercier and an apartment in the provincial capital of Dartan. He has two siblings, Anne Beauregard de Tontcuq, a judge on the Court of the Republic for Mercier, and François de Tontcuq, an investment banker.

Awards and recognition

• Ainin (military): Concordia Ribbon (1970)
• Ainin (military): Distinguished Service Bar (1973)
• Ainin: Adjutant of the Order of Ainin (2009)
• Template:Country data Mercier Mercier, Ainin: Order of Merit of Mercier (2003)
• Esquarian Football Association: Distinguished Service Award (2011)

Electoral record

  Mercier general election, 1994: Géroux-l'Hermitage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Rally of the Democrats	Jean-Paul de Tontcuq	33,520	54.50	10.04
	Social Democratic Party	Joséphine Saint-Denis	18,238	29.65	3.02
	National Alliance	Corin Meyet	9,572	15.56	0.78
Invalid/blank			172	0.28	N/A
Total			61,502	100	N/A
	Democratic hold		Majority		24.85

  Mercier general election, 1990: Géroux-l'Hermitage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Rally of the Democrats	Jean-Paul de Tontcuq	23,634	44.46	8.69
	Social Democratic Party	Marc Desjardins	17,367	32.67	5.85
	National Alliance	Corin Meyet	7,856	14.78	14.78
	Green Party	Félix Auvray	4,105	7.72	1.32
Invalid/blank			195	0.37	N/A
Total			53,157	100	N/A
	Democratic hold		Majority		11.76

  Mercier general election, 1986: Géroux-l'Hermitage

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Rally of the Democrats	Jean-Paul de Tontcuq	30,949	53.15	5.15
	Social Democratic Party	Marc Desjardins	22,430	38.52	2.89
	Green Party	Anne-Marie Gagnon	3,725	6.40	0.57
	Coalition Mercier	Vincent Boudreau	986	1.69	1.69
Invalid/blank			140	0.24	N/A
Total			58,230	100	N/A
	Democratic hold		Majority		14.63