Monique Degar-Abdulrashid
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The Honourable Monique Degar-Abdulrashid President of Gaullica | |
|---|---|
 Degar-Abdulrashid at a fundraiser during her campaign, 2020 | |
| President of the Republic of Gaullica | |
| Assumed office 6 September 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Jean Vallette |
| Premier of Gaullica | |
| In office 17 August 2016 – 10 September 2018 | |
| President | Jean Vallette |
| In office 15 August 2019 – 6 September 2020 | |
| President | Jean Vallette |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office February 11 2012 – 17 August 2016 | |
| President | Jean Vallette |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Boulanger |
| Minister for Health | |
| In office 10 October 2018 – 15 August 2019 | |
| Leader | Jean Vallette |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Monique Degar-Abdulrashid 29 December 1982 (Age 38) Verlois, Gaullica |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Pierre Degar |
| Children | Lucien Degar |
| Alma mater | Rayenne Technical Institute |
Monique Degar-Abdulrashid (born December 29, 1982) is a Gaullican politician currently serving as the President of Gaullica. Elected on 6 September, 2020, she was the first Irfani Gaullican head of state, and the third woman to serve as president. She is the first woman from the Social Democratic Party to become President, and her election marked the first time the PSD successfully held the Presidency for three consecutive terms.
Born in Verlois to two Tsabaran immigrants, Degar-Abdulrashid studied Biochemistry at the Rayenne Technical Institute where she achieved a masters in Biochemistry in Medicine. Initially elected to RTI's student union as one of its representatives to the national union, her presence there opened a taste in politics and she unsuccessfully ran as a PSD candidate in the 2004 legislative election. In 2008 she was elected to the First Chamber of the Senate and after a raising of her public profile following numerous public appearances and debates Later still she was appointed as Minister of the Interior by Premier Duquesne in the weeks after Vallette's re-election.
In the wake of the revelations of the Spálgleann Papers, Premier Duquesne resigned due to the embezzlement of funds uncovered by the leak. This resignation prompted an unexpected political struggle for appointing his replacement from within the PSD. Of the three candidates personally interviewed by the president for the appointment, Vallette described himself as "most impressed" by Degar-Abdulrashid and she was put forward to the Senate for confirmation. She would serve as Premier until 2018 and as from 2019-2020. It was also in 2018, when the PSD lost control of the lower chamber of the Senate, that she was appointed Minister of Health in a bipartisan agreement.
She announced her intention to seek the nomination for her party's 2020 candidate and was selected by the membership by a comfortable margin; achieving over 50% of the necessary votes on the second ballot. Regarded as a strong contender and the most well-polled since the beginning of the electoral season, she would be elected president in the second round of the 2020 election against Senator Coralie Barreau. Her election also made her the youngest president in Gaullican history.
Early Life
Born in Verlois in 1982 she is the daughter of Muhaajir Abdulrashid, a truckdriver, and Aaliyah Abdulrashid, a nursey teacher. She is the eldest of three children and has a younger brother, Ibrahim, born in 1985 and a younger sister, Simone, born in 1987.
Muhaajir and Aaliyah both immigrated to Gaullica in 1980, leaving Tsabara due to growing instability in the nation. Abdulrashid described the stories told to her by her parents as "immensely impactful" and that they made her "thankful" for the hospitality of Gaullica. She described the relative poverty her family lived in during her childhood as "the beginnings of the formation of my political identity. My family did what they could to provide, but sometimes food came before bills."
Abdulrashid completed much of her early education at 'École Saint Denis'. After she moved to Rayenne to study biochemistry at the Rayenne Technical Institute, where should meet her future husband Pierre Degar. She succeeded her studies by being elected as a representative for the RTI's student union to the national union of students. Her representative career inspired her to run for office in the 2004 Legislative Elections.