Marine Le Pen.

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Alain ROBERT / SIPA

  • Marine Le Pen is once again a presidential candidate for the National Rally.

  • After the failure of 2017, the party made several strategic reversals, notably abandoning the exit from the EU and the euro.

  • For several weeks, the RN candidate has been trying to give pledges of economic credibility to the right-wing electorate to win in 2022.

A little over a year before the presidential election, the National Rally is refining its strategy.

After the abandonment of the exit from the European Union and the euro, recorded in the summer of 2017, the flame party continues to evolve.

At the end of January, Marine Le Pen this time renounced the suspension of the Schengen agreements, now defending the idea of ​​maintaining freedom of movement to European nationals only.

A few days ago, the RN presidential candidate very learnedly said that France should repay the loans taken out in the context of the coronavirus crisis.

“A debt must be repaid.

There is an essential moral aspect here, ”she wrote in a column published in

L'Opinion

.

The strategy is clear: to try to normalize its program to attract new voters and win in 2022.

"We are reaching out to voters who may never have voted for us"

Because after the defeat in the 2017 presidential election and the failure in the legislative elections, the party questioned itself.

“We found that some still had doubts about our ability to govern, agrees MEP Philippe Olivier, close advisor to the president of the RN.

We then revised certain positions and we worked to better integrate the internal logic of the State, such as the Constitutional Council or the Council of State, in order to transform a militant opposition party into a government party ”.

In this desire for normalization, a term that Philippe Olivier refutes, the National Front becomes National Rally in 2018, and gradually erases the measures that could frighten a part of the French, in particular the right-wing electorate.

“We listen to the French people, on the euro as on immigration, because we must not be dogmatic.

It's about openness, no concessions, ”adds Gilles Pennelle, member of the national office and head of the RN list for regional in Brittany.

"We remain anti-systems from an ideological point of view"

The National Rally adds to these strategic reversals an evolution of its political discourse.

“When there were the 'yellow vests', we did not add fuel to the fire and we distanced ourselves when the violence prevailed.

On health management, we have a critical but responsible attitude, leaving civil disobedience and conspiracy to others, ”says Philippe Olivier.

To fight against Islamism, Marine Le Pen opposed the government's bill to her own proposals, and tried to appear more consensual during her debate against Gerald Darmanin.

The "I find that you are softer than we can be", released by the Minister of the Interior that evening, has also delighted the executives of the party.

“Some people expect us to overturn the table or to be cartoonish, this is not the case.

But we remain anti-systems from an ideological point of view ”, insists Philippe Olivier.

The precision is not trivial because these reversals have left traces.

The former number 2 Florian Philippot, historical defender of Frexit, slammed the door in September 2017. “The RN submitted on everything, they are now to stay in the EU, in the euro, in the ECHR , in NATO [Marine Le Pen says the opposite], in Schengen…, again tackled the boss of the Patriots during a demonstration in Nice this weekend.

She wants to pay off the debt to the last penny and now on the Covid, agrees with Macron.

I wonder if, at this rate, Marine Le Pen will not call to vote Macron in the second round.

"

Closing the backlog in the right-wing electorate

Behind the critics, a question: by its changes of foot, does the RN risk letting part of the protesting electorate slip away towards Florian Philippot or Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the former ally of the second round, who is not missing not scratch Marine Le Pen either?

At the RN, we highlight the candidate's good polls.

“We are now in a position to win the presidential election.

Our traditional electorate is extremely loyal and we are now reaching out to voters who may never have voted for us, ”replies Gilles Pennell.

A strategy that pays off?

"The Le Pen brand remains very strong within its traditional electorate", indicates Frédéric Dabi, deputy director general of Ifop.

“And one of the brakes on the RN vote in 2017 was the leap into the unknown linked to the exit from the euro, which discredited it among the elderly, senior executives and the liberal professions, fearing for their savings.

But the benefits of this strategy are still very meager today.

In the latest Ipsos Sopra-Steria study, published in early February, only 13 and 18% of François Fillon voters in 2017 said they were ready to vote for Marine Le Pen in 2022.

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Politics

Presidential 2022: Yannick Jadot's double campaign

  • Presidential election

  • Strategy

  • Elections

  • Marine Le Pen

  • National gathering