Jean-Michel Couve

Jean-Michel Couve (3 January 1940 – 20 December 2025) was a French cardiologist and politician who represented the 4th constituency of the Var department in the National Assembly from 1988 to 2017. He previously held a seat at-large following the 1986 legislative election, the first to introduce proportional representation in Parliament under the Fifth Republic. A member of The Republicans (LR), which he joined upon the party's establishment in 2015, Couve had previously been a member of its predecessor parties, the Rally for the Republic (RPR) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

Life and career A native of Le Muy, Var, Couve also served in the Departmental Council of Var for the canton of Saint-Tropez from 1992 to 2001 and as Mayor of Saint-Tropez twice, from 1983 to 1989 and again from 1993 until 2008. He did not run for reelection to Parliament in 2017 but remained from 2014 to 2020 a member of the municipal council of Saint-Tropez, to which he was first elected in 1977.

Couve died 20 December 2025 at the age of 85.