Abdoulatifou Aly is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the island of Mayotte

Mayotte

Mayotte is an overseas department and region of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre , a smaller island, Petite-Terre , and several islets around these two. The archipelago is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, namely between northwestern Madagascar and...

, and is a member of the Democratic Movement

Democratic Movement (France)

The Democratic Movement , MoDem) is a centrist, social liberal and pro-European French political party that was founded by centrist politician François Bayrou to succeed his Union for French Democracy and to contest the 2007 legislative election, after his strong showing in the 2007 presidential...

 (MoDem aka Mouvement Démocratique) nationally, but is a member of the Mahoran Departmentalist Movement (Mouvement départementaliste Mahorais) in Mayotte

Mayotte

Mayotte is an overseas department and region of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre , a smaller island, Petite-Terre , and several islets around these two. The archipelago is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, namely between northwestern Madagascar and...

.

Aly campaigned strongly for the "Yes" result in the 2009 Mahoran status referendum

Mahoran status referendum, 2009

A referendum on becoming an overseas department of France was held in Mayotte on 29 March 2009. Mayotte had been an overseas collectivity of France since 2003...

, arguing that Mayotte and its citizens are an integral part of France: "We may be black, poor and Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

, but we have been French longer than Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

." The victory of the "Yes" vote ensures that Mayotte will become a full French department in 2011.