Huguette Bello

Huguette Bello
Bello in 2023
President of the Regional Council of Réunion
Assumed office
2 July 2021
Preceded byDidier Robert
President of For Réunion
Assumed office
13 May 2012
Preceded byParty established
Mayor of Saint-Paul
In office
4 July 2020 – 8 July 2021
Preceded byJoseph Sinimalé
Succeeded byEmmanuel Séraphin
In office
9 October 2009 – 6 April 2014
Preceded bySpecial delegation
Succeeded byJoseph Sinimalé
In office
21 March 2008 – 20 August 2009
Preceded byAlain Bénard
Succeeded bySpecial delegation
Member of the National Assembly for Réunion's 2nd constituency
In office
12 June 1997 – 7 July 2020
Preceded byClaude Hoarau
Succeeded byOlivier Hoarau
Regional Councillor of Réunion
Assumed office
18 December 2015
PresidentDidier Robert
Herself
In office
27 March 1992 – 1 March 1993
PresidentCamille Sudre
Departmental Councillor of Réunion
In office
7 October 1988 – 27 March 1994
ConstituencyCanton of Saint-Pierre-3
Personal details
Born
Marie-Huguette Antoinette Bello

(1950-08-24) 24 August 1950 (age 74)
Saint-Pierre, Réunion, France
Political partyFor Réunion (2012–present)
Other political
affiliations
Communist Party of Réunion (1974–2012)
Spouse(s)Jean-Marie Wisniowycki (divorced)
Roland Malet
Children2
Occupation
  • Politician
  • teacher

Marie-Huguette Antoinette Bello (French pronunciation: [maʁi yɡɛt bɛlo]; born 24 August 1950) is a French politician and teacher from Réunion who has served as president of the Regional Council of Réunion since 2021. Bello is the founder of the left-wing For Réunion political party, having previously been a member of the Communist Party of Réunion until the foundation of For Réunion in 2012.

After working as a substitute teacher and preschool principal in Réunion, Bello entered politics in 1983, joining the municipal government of Saint-Pierre, and later the municipal government of La Possession in 1989. In 1988, Bello was elected to the Departmental Council of Réunion in the 1988 election, before returning to the Saint-Pierre municipal government in 1995. Bello entered national politics after being elected to the National Assembly for Réunion's 2nd constituency in the 1997 legislative election. Bello was reelected in the 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 elections, until resigning her seat in 2020 due to laws regarding dual mandates. Bello was first elected mayor of Saint-Paul in the 2008 municipal elections, and served intermittently as mayor between 2008 and 2021.

Bello was chosen to lead the left-wing electoral alliance in Réunion into the 2015 regional election, but was defeated by incumbent Didier Robert. She led the alliance once again in the 2021 regional election, and this time was victorious, becoming the president of the Regional Council of Réunion.

Following the 2024 legislative election, several leaders of the left-wing New Popular Front coalition proposed Bello as the coalition's candidate for prime minister of France. The Socialist Party later chose not to endorse her and she stated that she would no longer pursue the coalition's nomination.