Marine Le Pen was Tuesday morning on the move to a market in Hénin-Beaumont, in her stronghold of Pas-de-Calais.
The candidate of the National Rally, which distances her rival Eric Zemmour in the polls, displayed her serenity.
But a few days before the first round, the elected representative of Pas-de-Calais fears a weak mobilization of her electorate, like the regional ones of 2021.
From our journalist in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais)
A huge bus is parked in front of the small market.
It is 9 a.m. on this Tuesday, the Hénin-Beaumont bistro is filling up.
We come to drink a coffee by filling the Lotto grids.
A few meters away, on the Place de la République, curious people gather, intrigued by the blue vehicle bearing the image of Marine Le Pen.
The National Rally candidate for the presidency arrives an hour later in a dark sedan.
“Hello children!
I do not kiss you, because I have the die, "she said to Steeve Briois, the RN mayor of the town, to and his supporters.
Before a TV show from Hénin-Beaumont in the evening, the local MP offers herself a sunny and risk-free stroll in her stronghold of Pas-de-Calais.
"We have always kept the calm of the old troops"
“Oh Marine!
It's been a long time…”, launches a fruit merchant.
"Yes, it's been a long time, but we've done all of France," she replies.
A florist offers her a bouquet of daffodils – “Ah!
That's spring!
–, young people hurry for a selfie, a little lady even asks him about the health of his cats.
“Marine, we know her well, she is part of the furniture.
She, at least, moves around people, because here, we don't see a lot of politicians…”, breathes Florian, a young 28-year-old bard.
The candidate is on conquered ground in this former mining town, where the RN won more than 56% of the votes in the first round of the last regional elections.
An ideal ground to stage its good dynamics at the end of the campaign.
The ex-lawyer, long worried by Eric Zemmour, is now ahead of him by six to ten points in the polls and consolidates his place in the second round.
“We have always kept the calm of the old troops, assures Arnaud de Rigné, elected RN of Carvain, a neighboring town.
Marine Le Pen has always been calm, the end of the campaign proves her right, in particular for having insisted on purchasing power, a major concern of the French.
»
Even here, in "this stronghold" of the RN, activists tow for Éric Zemmour a few meters from Marine Le Pen.
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— Thibaut Le Gal (@LGThibaut) March 22, 2022
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The security service is suddenly more vigilant.
A group of Eric Zemmour activists is on the way.
One of them tries to offer a programmatic leaflet to Marine Le Pen.
“Uh, we know him!
“, she sweeps without stopping.
The candidate allows herself later to be ironic about the proposal of her identity rival, the day before, to create a “Ministry of remigration”.
“I thought he had abandoned that concept.
Well, he takes it back, it must be linked to a more complicated electoral situation than he hoped, "she squeals, very happy to appear once again - and despite very close proposals - less radical than his opponent.
"The risk" of abstention for the RN electorate
“We experienced three pitfalls in this campaign: the unexpected arrival of Eric Zemmour, the rise of Valérie Pécresse at the end of December after the LR primary, and the war in Ukraine, which favored the outgoing president.
We had difficult times, but all that is over, ”wants to believe Steve Briois.
In the home stretch, Marine Le Pen now wants to avoid going off the road.
She thus takes care to extinguish the beginning of a controversy after having declared that she had no "admiration" for Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I said he was a strong defender of his country, but patriotism should not be admired.
Because I too have patriotism in my veins, ”she said, assuring that she would finally be present at the Assembly this Wednesday to listen to the Ukrainian president.
But despite the displayed calm, a challenge remains to be met.
In this strange campaign, abstention threatens its electorate.
“It's a risk, obviously.
Young people and the working classes are those who abstain the most.
We have a huge number of voters but a party abstained from the regional elections and the victory eluded us.
We will therefore mobilize until the last hour, ”assures Marine Le Pen.
On several occasions, on the market, the candidate also tries to shake up undecided people.
“We can do a lot of things, but not without people coming to vote.
»
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