Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

The Constitutional Council of France has nullified the recent election of Daphna Poznanski-Benhamou, a French-Israeli citizen, to the National Assembly.

Poznanski-Benhamou, believed to be the first Israeli citizen elected to the French parliament, was declared ineligible because she exceeded restrictions on campaign funding, the council said in a statement on its website.

French law does not permit direct funding by candidates for their own campaigns except for negligible expenses. This was not the case with Poznanski-Benhamou, a Socialist candidate who supplied just shy of 18 percent of the total expenditure, the council said.

The expenditures were made ahead of the June election for the eighth constituency for French residents overseas, made up of Frenchmen living in Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, the Vatican and San Marino.

Poznanski-Benhamou will remain ineligible for election for one year and a new election will be held within two months, the statement said.

The council began its probe following a complaint filed on June 28 by Valérie Hoffenberg, a French Jewish woman who ran against Poznanski-Benhamou in the election to serve as representative of the UMP party.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT