- The National Rally organized this Sunday its municipal convention in Paris to officially launch its campaign.
- One of the campaign axes is the balance sheet of the 11 cities already owned by the RN, which aims to conserve them and conquer new ones during the municipal elections scheduled for March.
- The party does not skimp on the efforts and the praises to promote its mayors, but remains turned towards the presidential of 2022.
Difficult to be heard in politics these days when we don't talk about pensions. This is perhaps why the elected Rassemblement national have clubbed ad libitum their campaign slogan for the municipalities, "RN management, it works!" ". Meeting in convention in Paris around its president Marine Le Pen, the party launched its campaign this Sunday, two months from the first round, scheduled for March 15. Painting a smooth portrait of the ten cities conquered in 2014 is a central lever of the movement's strategy, lacking local roots.
Showcase cities
"In 2014, when the National Front conquered cities, what did we not hear: the sun would no longer rise, there would be thefts of grasshoppers," says Gilles Pennelle, in charge of strategy for municipal. Six years ago, the party had won 11 town halls, including Hayange (Moselle), Cogolin (Var) or Le Pontet (Vaucluse). The mayor of Fréjus (Var), David Rachline, also continues the biblical metaphor: “if we are to believe our opponents, the seven plagues of Egypt were going to befall our cities. They are doing better than ever, ”he smiles.
To convince as many people as possible, RN city councilors succeed one another on the podium this Sunday, like Steeve Briois, elected in the first round in 2014 in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais) or Julien Sanchez, mayor of Beaucaire (Gard ). "Your work is the best calling card for our candidates," praises Thierry Mariani, a defector from the right.
Paint the image of good managers
A brochure was even printed on glossy paper to praise the results of RN town halls. Over twenty pages, color photos of smiling city officials and slogans punctuated by exclamation marks follow one after the other. Because the RN is counting on its timid breakthrough in 2014 to gain local roots in the run-up to the presidential election of 2022. These RN cities, showcases for the party, are used to continue the “demonization of the party”, and to “stain oil ”by conquering neighboring municipalities, especially in the North and in the Southeast.
The party focuses mainly on local taxation and security. "We have kept our promises, with no increase in local taxes in our cities," boasts David Rachline, who has maintained the housing tax at the same rate since 2014. "Thanks to our balance sheet, we have real legitimacy". In Frejus, Hénin-Beaumont and Mantes-la-Ville, the three largest cities run by the RN, the housing tax and the property tax have not increased since 2014, according to the newspaper La Croix.
On security, a pillar of the program, elected officials parade to tout the recruitment of police officers and the fight against delinquency. “There were no cars burnt on the evening of December 31 in our cities! "Assures Marine Le Pen. For Steeve Briois, mayor of Hénin-Beaumont, "RN management works because our candidates are made from the same wood as their citizens". Proximity to the inhabitants is indeed the other argument of the after-sales service of RN town halls.
A springboard around 2022
But the balance sheet of RN mayors is also marked by a few blows far less consensual than the tax cuts: in Hayange, Fabien Engelmann was dismissed by the courts after having wanted to expel the Secours populaire, which he considers too " pro migrant ”. In Fréjus, a court suspended the curfew desired by David Rachline near a migrant center. No matter, we sweep the party. "Our management works, and the best proof is that our electoral scores have soared in these cities," continues Gilles Pennelle. In Pas-de-Calais, the party conquered four constituencies in the 2017 legislative elections, all around Hénin-Beaumont.
What boost the confidence of the candidates invested by the movement, which does not display a quantified objective. "There is no impregnable fortress," said Emeric Salmon, candidate for Rennes. But this ballot remains "a step towards the conquest of power," recalls the party leadership. The closing speech of Marine Le Pen is also turned to 2022, alternating points of the presidential program, such as "demetropolization" and "localism", and the attacks against the one of whom she makes her main adversary, Emmanuel Macron.
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