On paper, everything is fine. The National Rally is preparing its congress in order to appoint, on November 5, the successor to Marine Le Pen at the head of the RN. On one side of the ring, Jordan Bardella, soon to be 27, has been acting party president since September 2021. On the other, Louis Aliot, 53, mayor of Perpignan and vice-president of the RN, plays the local elected representative’s experience map. About 30,000 activists are called upon to choose between these two candidates during an electronic vote organized during the month of October. For the first time, the winner of the congress will not bear the name of Le Pen.
According to the majority of the executives questioned, no cloud is on the horizon at the RN, still galvanized by the 89 seats of deputy obtained in the legislative elections and the recent polls on the popularity rating of Marine Le Pen. “We are in an extremely peaceful period and we are going to experience a great moment of democracy. Nothing to do with the congress after the defeat of 2017 or that after the split of Bruno Mégret in 1998enthuses Jean-Lin Lacapelle, spokesperson for the RN and MEP. There is no squabble, but two candidates, each with their own story.”
“They have the same political line. They are sailors. It’s above all a question of profiles”, confirms Philippe Ballard, deputy and spokesperson for the RN. Jordan Bardella thus relies on his record as interim president to praise his candidacy. “I allow myself to ask for your confidence to continue the victorious path that we have taken with Marine”wrote the MEP in a letter to the activist released on Wednesday August 30.
“Never change a winning teampleads the deputy Alexandre Loubet, support of the interim president. The configuration of the last presidential election was the right one: with Jordan Bardella who, as president-activist of the RN, puts the party in working order to support the candidacy of Marine Le Pen. At the headquarters of the RN, officials evoke the many sponsorships of elected officials who flock in favor of Jordan Bardella. “There is a real enthusiasm from the executives, but also from the base. At the last congress, he came first in the votes for the national council, just ahead of Louis Aliot”recalls the MP.
“I consider Jordan Bardella to be the natural and legitimate candidate.”
Alexandre Loubet, deputy RNat franceinfo
If the young leader of the RN leaves favorite, he does not intend to rest on his achievements. After a media return scheduled for this Sunday on BFMTV, he will embark on a tour of the federations of the National Rally to meet the members. “Jordan Bardella has a good capacity for work and organization. This does not detract from the merit of Louis Aliot. But Jordan is the future, it is the next generation”still boasts Philippe Ballard, who is one of the many executives to show his support for the interim president.
The fight seems unbalanced and some even wonder on condition of anonymity about the interest of the Aliot candidacy. “Frankly, between us, I don’t know why he is a candidate, I really don’t understand. He may want to keep the democratic debate alive…”, wonders one of the RN spokespersons. The far-right party, which operates with a culture of undisputed leader, does not usually exhaust itself in internal campaigns, with the exception of the 2011 congress which led to the election of Marine Le Pen in the face of to Bruno Gollnisch.
With Louis Aliot, some initially thought of a testimonial candidacy. But the former companion of Marine Le Pen seems to have managed to launch the match over the summer. To catch up, he is banking on his local roots and his experience as mayor, the only one in the RN to lead a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants. “If it works in Perpignan, why wouldn’t it work elsewhere?”launched the vice-president of the RN to his supporters gathered, Saturday August 27, in front of the town hall of Baixas (Pyrénées-Orientales). “I spent thirty years fighting for this political formation, I held all the positions.”
“I sponsored Louis Aliot, because he is mayor, he has experience in supporting the local establishment of the movement within the framework of the next municipal deadlinesexplains the former deputy of the North Ludovic Pajot. “He has experience and a high academic level, being a doctoral student in law is an asset”, considers for his part Bruno Gollnisch, who has not yet made his choice.
Behind the good understanding displayed in public by the two candidates, speckled foil attacks against Jordan Bardella multiplied in the heart of summer. Some doubt his ability to bring his political family together, criticize his closeness to the identity fringe of the party, or denounce “excessive ambition” of the young deputy European.
According to several tenors of the party, these criticisms would not come from the entourage of Louis Aliot, but rather from “the band of Pas-de-Calais”. Understand: the mayor of‘Hénin-Beaumont, Steeve Briois and MP Bruno Bilde, historically close to Marine Le Pen. “They do not support the political rise and the media talent of Jordan Bardella. They do not support Louis Aliot more than that, but they have found in him the ideal candidate to try to prevent Jordan Bardella from being elected”plague a relative of Marine Le Pen, who denounces “bitterness and jealousy” of the two elected officials from the North.
“When Marine Le Pen entrusted the interim of the party to Jordan Bardella, Bruno Bilde and Steve Briois boycotted all the meetings. Mind-blowing!”
A relative of Marine Le Penat franceinfo
Other RN executives and supporters of Jordan Bardella regret “a personal squabble” worthy of a “playground”. “These are people who are there to break the machine like with Bruno Mégret in 1998”laughs a MEP. “What is not lacking in salt in this story is that Bilde and Briois did everything to ensure that Louis Aliot was not our top of the European list in 2019. Today, they are attacking Jordan because that they resent its popularity”, adds a part of the party, very reassembled.
In the sights of the Bardella camp, the “Pas-de-Calais band” prefers to play the watch. Without denying being at the origin of the attacks. “We will express ourselves in mid-September on the party congress in an official and very explicit way”, assures Bruno Bilde to franceinfo.
At the National Rally, some see the surprise candidacy of Louis Aliot as a way of curbing the ambitions of Jordan Bardella. “Louis Aliot seems to me to have entered the race to prevent Jordan Bardella from overshadowing Marine Le Pen too much. If Jordan Bardella had been the only candidate or if he were to win very largely against Louis Aliot, he would not will no longer want to stop in his ascent. He likes power, but he has to wait his turn”, tackle a newly elected mariner parliamentarian. “VSIt’s not true, he didn’t take the melon at all!”, retorts pro-Bardella MP Philippe Ballard.
The race for the presidency of the RN could partly be played out during the parliamentary days of the far-right party, organized on the weekend of September 17-18 in Agde (Hérault). “We will very quickly realize if the anti-Bardella manage to convince and gather strong enough troops around them”projects support for the young candidate for the presidency of the RN, which relativizes “those marginal critics”. “Frankly, when I see the popularity of Jordan Bardella among our activists and our elected officials, I am convinced that he will largely prevail and that the episode will be closed.“.