In Paca, while Jordan Bardella is in Fréjus to launch the RN legislative campaign, some at Reconquest!
and in the party of Marine Le Pen are calling for a union for the legislative elections.
In this region, the defections indeed concern former long-time militants, whether on the side of Stéphane Ravier… or Marion Maréchal Le Pen.
In places, Eric Zemmour's scores also push some RN activists to plead for discussions.
Yesterday they were fellow travelers, towing under the same banners, sticking under the same sun.
Will they tomorrow be forced to be in the shadow of old friends?
While Jordan Bardella, the national leader of the National Rally, comes to Fréjus this Thursday to launch the party's campaign for the legislative elections, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the question of an alliance between Reconquest!
and the RN for this election finds a certain echo among the militants, and probable future candidates, of the two camps, who have long campaigned together.
Starting in Carpentras, where Marion Maréchal Le Pen, who went to Reconquête!, did not rule out on RTL a possible candidacy in the constituency which had propelled her to the National Assembly.
A candidacy that looks like a dilemma, since she would face a certain Hervé de Lépinau, RN candidate who was then… her deputy before she left politics temporarily in 2017. “It’s her buddy opposite in fact , launches a local framework of Reconquest!.
I understand that it is a complicated decision.
It's human.
She doesn't want to shoot her friends.
»
Towards “fratricidal struggles”
“Marion is a friend, confirms Hervé de Lépiau.
And a fratricidal struggle would never be good.
I heard that Zemmour would not announce anyone against Dupont-Aignan, Marine Le Pen or Eric Ciotti.
He could have added the name of Lépinau.
Carpentras is an emblematic constituency.
In this constituency, Marine Le Pen won 58%.
We had an outgoing MP, Brune Poirson, who left, and I, a candidate established in the field.
If I don't win this time, I will never win.
The problem is that it's not just Marion who decides.
I told Marion.
How can she advocate union by presenting herself to her former deputy?
There are 14 constituencies where Eric Zemmour scored better than in Carpentras.
Marion can therefore run in 14 other constituencies,
and I would be happier to sit side by side rather than face to face.
Because for me, Reconquest!
is not an enemy.
»
“Me, I am in favor of being as united as possible, and that is why I have kept a certain benevolence and not to go into this logic of rising antagonism, confides Amaury Navaranne, head of the RN in Toulon. and probable legislative candidate.
I stayed very far from all that, because it's always easier to call to vote for someone for the second round.
And then, I still have friends at Eric Zemmour, including Marion.
I keep my loyalty to Marine Le Pen, but that doesn't change my friendships.
»
"The Southern Front will be sacrificed"
“We have regular contact with candidates invested by the RN, who are interested in discussions, affirms Antoine Baudino, departmental coordinator of Bouches-du-Rhône of Reconquest!
and close to Stéphane Ravier, who was for a long time the figurehead of the RN in Marseille.
It's a question of goodwill, and it's easier to discuss with someone with whom you have been active for a long time and with whom you are still friends.
»
“And then, in the South, the Reconquest candidates!
will weigh enough to prevent RN candidates from accessing the second round, predicts a local Reconquest framework.
If there is no agreement, the Southern Front will be sacrificed.
Eric Zemmour's scores here are not at all the same as in the North.
We have constituencies in the Var or the Alpes-Maritimes where Reconquest!
is 15 or 17%!
»
A “local specificity”
“I think we have to talk to Reconquête!
in the name of local specificity, believes Philippe Vardon, In places, the score that Eric Zemmour has in the Alpes-Maritimes is double what he has done at the national level!
I bring this voice to the executives of the movement, and in particular to Jordan, with whom I have regular contact.
»
“The problem is that we are in a movement that does not take the local very much into account, and whose decisions always come from above,” complains a local RN activist.
The idea of the union does not seem to be unanimous among the executives of the RN, who underline the clear progression of Marine Le Pen in Paca, including with a Zemmour as an opponent….
And the rancor that these defections have fueled.
"What matters is the electorate," says Eleonore Bez, RN candidate for the legislative elections in Marseille and departmental delegate of Marine Le Pen's party.
For Ravier, voters and our activists have turned the page.
Have a Reconquest candidate!
in front of me ?
It's not a topic.
»
In an interview granted this Thursday morning to Cnews, Jordan Bardella affirmed that "there will be RN candidates in all the constituencies of France, with party candidates and there may be discussions on a case-by-case basis, to support outside candidates.
What to suggest alliances… later.
“In the second round, there may be withdrawal agreements which will lead us to take our responsibilities and we will be able to withdraw and support the best placed patriotic candidate”, explained Jordan Bardella.
Policy
Legislative 2022: Rejected by the RN, does Eric Zemmour pay for his strategy of radicalism?
Elections
Legislative: Olivier Faure wants a "coalition" with LFI but not a "submission" of the PS
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen
Reconquest!
(political party)
National Rally (RN)
Legislative elections 2022
Elections