He also served as the President of the Regional Council of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe from 2004 until 2015.

In May 2012, he was made the Minister of Overseas France in Jean-Marc Ayrault's cabinet and was replaced in the national assembly by his supplementary candidate Hélène Vainqueur-Christophe.

However, on 23 March 2014, he lost the local elections in Vieux-Habitants, and as of 2 April 2014, he was not reappointed to the Valls Cabinet.

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Laurent Wauquiez (LR) Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: Marie-Guite Dufay (PS) Brittany: Loïg Chesnais-Girard (DVG) Centre-Val de Loire: François Bonneau (PS) Corsica: Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis (FAC) Grand Est: Franck Leroy (LR) Nouvelle-Aquitaine: Alain Rousset (PS) French Guiana: Gabriel Serville (PG) Guadeloupe: Ary Chalus (PS) Île-de-France: Valérie Pécresse (LR) Martinique: Claude Lise (PPM) Occitania: Carole Delga (PS) Hauts-de-France: Xavier Bertrand (DVD) Normandy: Hervé Morin (LR) Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur: Renaud Muselier (LR) Pays de la Loire: Christelle Morançais (LR) Réunion: Didier Robert (LR)

This article about a Socialist Party of France politician is a stub.