Posted at 5:00 a.m.
He’s young. He is talented. He expresses himself well. He is convincing. And he doesn’t like immigrants.
At only 27 years old, Jordan Bardella has just been elected new president of the National Rally, with an unequivocal result of 85% of the votes. He succeeds Marine Le Pen, who will now have more time to manage her group of 89 deputies in the National Assembly and prepare her presidential candidacy in 2027.
It is the first time since its creation 50 years ago that the far-right French party has not been led by a Le Pen. But it’s just like.
This son of Italian immigrants, from the suburbs of Paris, had become the protege of Marine Le Pen. And he is still, until proven otherwise, the spouse of Nolwenn Olivier, niece of Mrs.me Le Pen and granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the RN.
His victory, moreover, does not surprise anyone.
Activist in the RN since the age of 15, this child prodigy climbed the ladder one by one, before finding himself at the top of the pyramid. A rapid rise, precipitated by the 2019 European elections, where his list won against that of Emmanuel Macron’s party. He was only 24 years old.
PHOTO ALAIN JOCARD, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, Saturday November 5
“He is very ambitious. Good speaker. Very comfortable in the media. An excellent communicator with a great force of conviction, and he exudes an impression of sincerity,” notes Bruno Cautrès, researcher at CEVIPOF, in Paris.
His image as a wise and smooth young man also plays in his favor. This does not prevent it from becoming extremely hard when it comes to annoying subjects, such as security and illegal immigration. The magazine The Obs recently described him as a “cyborg”, while the newspaper The world called him “the ideal son-in-law who sends horrors”, to describe his contrasting personality.
Re-demonize the party
What will the National Rally look like under his presidency? Still early to tell.
Jordan Bardella has clearly hinted that he is part of the “ideological continuity” of his mentor, who has been active for several years in demonizing the image of her party by toning down her anti-immigration discourse and taking a more social.
However, the new president of the RN is well known for his muscular and assumed anti-migration positions. He advocates zero tolerance towards illegal immigrants and does not hesitate to evoke the “great replacement”, the theory according to which the white populations of Europe will soon be a minority in the face of immigrants from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa.
Last week, he did not hesitate to defend one of his deputies, Grégoire de Fournas, who had just caused controversy in the middle of the National Assembly, after having called loud and clear for migrants to “return to Africa “.
“I told him that it was not very fine, but I believe that it was absolutely fundamental not to give in on the merits”, declared in the process the new boss of the RN. Clear message.
A complementary pair
The question is whether a return to the hard line would be compatible with the “soft” turn of Mme The pen.
Specialist of the far right in France, Jean-Yves Camus admits that a more open identity policy could favor a rapprochement with Reconquest!, the party of Éric Zemmour, even the phagocytizing of the latter by the RN.
But according to him, it will be a “failure” if Bardella plays exclusively on the theme of immigration, while the French are rather preoccupied with everyday problems.
I don’t see how he can be both Marine Le Pen’s man and the man who re-demonizes the party. For me, there is a contradiction here.
Jean-Yves Camus, specialist of the extreme right in France
Unless you see it as a “complementary pair”, underlines Bruno Cautrès. At Bardella the immigration, at Marine Le Pen the social. The boss would thus be less identified with the extreme right and could take more height during the next presidential election.
However, friction cannot be ruled out between the boss and her dolphin. “Given the personality of Bardella, I think he will want to assert himself very quickly, summarizes Bruno Cautrès. We may be in a scenario where it will not always be easy. »
However, the expert believes that each will respect the territory of the other. “They know their limits. The only line not to cross for Bardella would be to imply that he has an appetite for the 2027 presidential election, ”concludes the political scientist. This election remains the preserve of Marine Le Pen. Unless it encounters a “major obstacle” by then.
In which case the ideal son-in-law might want to lead more and let the cyborg in him speak.