For the National Rally, it’s a bit of a page of history that is turning. But, rest assured, the winner will be a pure Lepenist: either Louis Aliot, current vice-president of the party and mayor of Perpignan; or the MEP, Jordan Bardella, interim president since last fall, and who appears to be the favorite in this internal competition. Both are loyal to the boss and they repeat to the 30,000 members responsible for deciding between them: vote for me, you vote for Marine Le Pen!
>> National rally: how Jordan Bardella and Louis Aliot compete behind the scenes to take the lead of the party
No doubt, it does not prevent that for the first time in its history, at the beginning of November, the far-right party will no longer be led by a Le Pen. The father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founded and piloted it for 39 years, his daughter Marine took over eleven years ago. She is therefore preparing to let go of the handle just as the party is preparing to celebrate its half-century.
Internal and intimate tensions
And the question that everyone is asking is there: is Marine Le Pen really handing over? No of course not. In fact, the mission of the winner will be to keep the party in working order for its fourth presidential candidacy in 2027. So, internally, it is whispered that Marine Le Pen has a crush on the young Jordan Bardella, soon to be 27 years old. It’s the darling. The one she promoted in 2019 to lead the list to the Europeans. At the time, she wanted to ringardiser the possible threat of Marion Maréchal, by pushing someone younger than her niece. Since then, the darling has faithfully accomplished his mission, notably by leading the party during the presidential campaign.
To the point of arousing some jealousy within the entourage of Marine Le Pen who considers him too ambitious and too rushed. This is not the case of Louis Aliot, 53, a history who has climbed all levels of the party. He was even chief of staff to Jean-Marie Le Pen. Apart from age, on the bottom, the line, there is not a hard and a moderate, nothing distinguishes them…
The two candidates are loyal to Marine Le Pen. And even two close friends! Louis Aliot was his companion for ten years. They separated in 2019 and still display a very good relationship. As for Jordan Bardella, he is very officially in a relationship with… a niece of Marine Le Pen, the daughter of his older sister Marie-Caroline. In short, the far-right party remains a clan, a small family business where politics and private life are always closely intertwined. And that too, with or without a Le Pen at its head, will not change.