Youngest French MP Faces Snub as Colleagues Avoid Handshake

Twenty-two-year-old Flavien Termet, newly elected from the National Rally, is met with refusal and a rock-paper-scissors gesture during parliamentary session

Flavien Termet, aged twenty-two and newly elected from the National Rally party, served as secretary during the opening session of France’s newly elected National Assembly, as is customary for the youngest member.

As deputies cast their votes to elect the Assembly’s president, Termet extended his hand in the traditional gesture of welcome.

Several left-wing deputies declined to shake hands.

Among them, François Piquemal staged a mock round of rock-paper-scissors in response to the gesture.

Piquemal then later posted on social media, writing, “In the ballot boxes, like rock-paper-scissors, in the end it is the NFP which wins,” alluding to the success of the New Popular Front coalition.

Other lawmakers also refrained from shaking Termet’s hand.

One deputy bypassed the gesture entirely, engaging in a deliberate stare instead.

The incident was captured on video and circulated widely.

Flavien Termet was elected in 2024 as deputy for Ardennes’s first constituency with just under fifty-three per cent of the vote in the second round.

As the youngest member of the legislature, he held a symbolic role during the opening session.

Termet announced his resignation from his seat in late September 2024, citing personal and medical reasons, prompting a by-election in his constituency later that year.