Rachel Kéké

Rachel Keke Raïssa (; born 30 May 1974) is an Ivorian-born French politician and former chambermaid. A member of the National Assembly from 2022 to 2024, she represents the 7th constituency of the Val-de-Marne department. She is a member of La France Insoumise (LFI).

Early life Keke was born on 30 May 1974 in Abobo, Ivory Coast. Her father was a bus driver and her mother sold clothing, until her death when Keke was 12. Her grandfather fought with the French forces during World War II.

Keke moved to France in 2000 (following the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état that overthrew Henri Konan Bédié), taking up a job as a hairdresser in the hair salon of a relative, also finding work as a chambermaid and housekeeper.

Career Union leader A CGT trade union representative Twenty workers, employed as subcontractors, struck for better pay and improved working conditions beginning in July 2019, and signed an agreement winning the majority of their demands in May 2021.

Keke began working as a chambermaid at the Ibis Batignolles hotel in April 2003, employed by a series of subcontractors. A part-time worker, until 2017 she was unsuccessful in seeking a full-time role. She became a housekeeper in 2019. Her health was affected by her working conditions, and she went out sick in February 2019. Her net monthly salary rose from 1,300 to 1,700 euros thanks to the success of the 2019-2021 strike. She said that the job "destroys the body. There are carpal tunnel syndromes, tendonitis, back pain...". In the course of her work, she also confronted racism and several attempted sexual assaults. Keke's campaign focused on outreach to non-voters, while Maracineanu called for a "republican front against the far left"; this drew criticism from the NUPES who saw this as equating them with France's extreme right. A profile by France24 noted that Keke's election (along with other newly elected deputies such as Rassemblement national's Katiana Levavasseur) indicated a growing trend of elected politicians from lower economic backgrounds taking up office.

She stood out during her first steps in the National French Assembly, denouncing the refusal of the members of the presidential majority to increase the minimum wage to extend the "prime Macron". She accuses them of not knowing what it is to receive only 800 euros a month, of despising essential professions and not knowing their suffering.

In the 2024 election, she lost her seat in the second round to Republican's Vincent Jeanbrun.

Personal life Keke has five children. In 2016, she married Bobby Yodé, a zouglou musician.