After the 41.5% collected in the presidential election, it was the party's acting president, Jordan Bardella, who called for a "third round" on June 12 and 19, in the face of the "arrogance" of Emmanuel Macron , this “authoritarian leader who confiscated a large part of the freedoms” of the French during the health crisis.

"If Emmanuel Macron were to have 450 deputies in the Assembly, it would be cataclysmic for democracy. (...) We would move away from the idea of ​​a mature democracy, we should not then come and criticize regimes where democracy is perhaps less developed, I am thinking of Russia for example", launched the lieutenant of Marine Le Pen, very offensive, from the terrace of a municipal swimming pool in Fréjus with a view of the Mediterranean.

MEP, aged only 26, Jordan Bardella will not himself be a candidate for the legislative elections, unlike Marine Le Pen, who will run for a second term in the 11th constituency of Pas-de-Calais.

A "big mobilization meeting" is scheduled for June 4, at a location yet to be defined.

Jordan Bardella again castigated far-right rival Eric Zemmour for his "suicidal strategy" and his "inconsistency" in criticizing Marine Le Pen and then "seeking her help to get elected".

"Deficit" of local establishments

The RN warned that it would have candidates in the 577 constituencies and that there would be no apparatus agreement between the two camps in the first round of the legislative elections.

However, there may be rare exceptions.

Mr. Bardella thus quoted Stanislas Rigault, the leader of the youth movement of Eric Zemmour (Reconquest), whom he says he met.

He "made quite strong campaign remarks but without exceeding the limit", estimated the acting president of the RN.

But "in the second round, we are perfectly prepared to support the patriotic candidate who would defend as much as possible the convictions which are ours", including Reconquest! candidates, "if there could be any", he said. he blurted out.

In fact, the Zemmour camp finds itself in a very difficult situation for the legislative elections.

Because the two-round majority voting system traditionally penalizes the far right.

In 2017, Marine Le Pen had gathered 33.9% of the votes in the presidential election but had only obtained eight deputies (seven today, including one related), below the threshold of 15 elected officials necessary to form a group at the Palais Bourbon .

His ancestor the FN had only succeeded once in forming a group, from 1986 to 1988, thanks to the proportional system, which he has continued to demand ever since.

This time, with 41.5% of the presidential vote, the party dreams of achieving it.

"We exceed 40% in 339 constituencies, we aspire to the constitution of a powerful group in the National Assembly", insisted Jordan Bardella, without giving a quantified objective.

But "no one wants to ally with (the RN). And this difficulty in forging alliances is fatal to him in an election like the legislative ones", recently underlined the pollster Brice Teinturier, in an interview with AFP.

Jordan Bardella acknowledged that "for a long time" his party had "an implementation deficit": "It's the truth, the National Front has never been a local front", he acknowledged, arguing the strategy now to "conquer local executives" to establish itself, as here in Fréjus with Mayor David Rachline.

The RN has not had a deputy in the Var since the end of the 90s and Jean-Marie Le Chevallier, despite historically strong scores in this department.

In the presidential election, Marine Le Pen came out on top in the second round, with 55% of the vote.

The RN, which had again failed in 2021 to wrest the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region from the right, also has no deputy in the region.

© 2022 AFP