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Maxime Desouches, a regional council member, pilot, and mechanic by profession, is 63 years old. “I am married and the father of two young women who are my pride and joy,” he says. One of them, Audrey Desouches-Kleinhans, is his running mate in this election.
As a candidate in the Senate elections, he explains: “Politically, my conviction is simple and unwavering: we must create wealth before we can redistribute it, and we must not leave anyone behind. This is the conviction that has guided me throughout 25 years of public life, and it is the one guiding my Senate campaign.”
(Only electors take part in the Senate elections. In Saint-Barthélemy, these are the nineteen territorial councilors, the representative, and the senator.)
Why are you running in these Senate elections? What motivates you?
I’ve been an elected official for 25 years—at the municipal and territorial levels, on the executive council, and as vice president of the local government. I was the top candidate on the ticket in 2007 and 2012. I’ve learned how public policy really works. That’s experience you can’t just wing when you arrive in Paris. Saint-Barthélemy needs a senator who knows the real situation on the ground and can move issues forward.
Do you have the support of the elected officials in your group, Action-Équilibre?
Watch out! That’s 21 electors to convince individually. My approach? Contact them, present my vision, and listen to their expectations. Four years of work within the group have allowed me to demonstrate what I can do, but I need to explain to the other electors the systems I’ve put in place.
You’ve been a local elected official since 2002. Do you think you’ll be more effective and useful to the island as a senator?
One senator out of 348 isn’t much. But let’s look at what can be done. Michel Magras: In 12 years, we’ve abolished the Chirac tax, created the CPS, eliminated cell phone roaming charges, adapted the STIS, enacted the Small Business Act, implemented tourism tax exemptions, made two amendments to the organic law, reduced the DGC by 3 million, and more. Total: more than 12 concrete measures passed and implemented.
Micheline may not have benefited from the same general political conditions that would have allowed for concrete progress. This does not call into question her personal commitment, but unfortunately, we do not see concrete results of that commitment in the record of her term.
What will be the main challenges of the next term for Saint Barth’s representative in the Senate?
The issues are many and varied—education, health care, protection of the most vulnerable, security, simplification of legislation, justice, LODEOM (Law for the Opening and Economic Development of Overseas Territories), the national budget, and taxation. But fundamentally, there are three overarching priorities.
A law for the annual updating of overseas territories legislation. The world is changing rapidly—inflation, energy, maritime transport, the economy. Our laws must be able to evolve with the times. On this issue and many others, I am in agreement with Michel Magras. It must be acknowledged that this issue has been on hold for four years since Michel Magras’s 2020 report, but the bill introduced in November 2024 was fortunately adopted by the Senate. It must now be advanced in the National Assembly.
We need to bring the same proactive and determined attitude to national issues as Hélène Bernier has demonstrated in the Collectivité. She has delivered tangible results: a fully operational health center, more than 8,000 consultations, specialists on board, and a robust infrastructure in place. That is the example: when you want results, you get them. I regret that Micheline voted against it.
Restore institutional consultation. Micheline introduced her PPLO (Proposed Organic Law, ed.) on her own, without first consulting the Territorial Council. The reforms of 2010 and 2015 followed a different path: consultation first, approval by the Territorial Council, then action by the Senate. It’s a matter of institutional logic. Her PPLO has been stalled for four years. This kind of decision must be made in agreement with the elected officials of the Territorial Council.
Is your candidacy a trial run before you run in the March 2027 territorial elections?
No. You’re forgetting that I was the top candidate on the ticket in 2007 and 2012. This isn’t my first time running for office. Furthermore, the roles are fundamentally different. A Territorial Council member deals with local issues. A senator deals with national issues. The issues and the tools are not the same. I’m not just testing the waters. I’m making a serious commitment to a six-year term in the service of our island and our country.
