Under the pines of an old wine building that has become the town hall of Baixas (Pyrénées-Orientales), a few kilometers from Perpignan which he conquered two years ago, Louis Aliot first wanted to talk to his family, in front of an audience of just over two hundred faithful.

"I spent thirty years fighting for this political formation, I occupied all the functions", recalls the one who appears as the challenger in this internal competition which must designate the successor of Marine Le Pen at the head of the party - the unfortunate candidate for the presidential election intends for her part to respect "neutrality".

Facing the ultra-favorite Jordan Bardella, 27 in two weeks, Louis Aliot, 53 next week, first heard his "experience" asserted - "I'm not too young, but I'm not no longer too old" - as much as its "rootedness", pleading for more local establishment.

On his southern lands, this pied-noir son supported his singularity: a word for the harkis, a tackle against Emmanuel Macron "who gathered on the monument to the martyrs of the soldiers of the FLN" during his trip to Algiers, all pronounced in front of one of the historical figures of the original National Front, Alain Jamet, "of all the fights since Algeria", recalled Louis Aliot by making the octogenarian applaud.

But, the fundamentals of Lepenism laid down, the mayor of Perpignan also intends to go beyond them, "with people from the right and even from the left", noting that "the RN has worried the French people, to the point that an electorate who opened his arms to us did not come to us".

From then on, "the whole challenge of the RN is there: to prepare to govern France".

Members against executives

If the line defended by Louis Aliot differs in nothing, or almost, from that of his opponent Jordan Bardella - both claim Marine Le Pen and "de-demonization" -, it is therefore on his personality that the former boss of the National Youth Front in the 90s bets on removing the party.

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"It's not a campaign against Jordan, it's not the campaign against the city", he repeats in vain, the hollow attack comes about the presidential election of 2027: "We have lucky to have a candidate (Marine Le Pen, editor's note), and therefore the question does not arise".

Before slipping: "And I don't even wonder if our friend Jordan has this kind of ambition", a way of lending it to him somewhere.

"That Jordan associates, brings together less than Louis would if he were president of the party, that can be a fear, yes", abounds a relative, Guillaume Vouzelaud, also considering that there are "identities" among "Bardella's supporters".

Because behind the promises of a "serene" campaign, the entourages of the two candidates have already given the appearance of a fight to the internal competition.

By appearing with (only) a dozen parliamentarians, a fortiori mainly from Occitania, Louis Aliot was able to lend the flank to critics who describe him as an isolated baron, when Jordan Bardella attracted the support of a majority elected officials and party officials.

But it is on the approximately 30,000 members who will have to decide between the two competitors during an electronic vote during the month of October that the mayor of Perpignan intends to rely on, by calling on his troops to "recruit, recruit , recruit".

© 2022 AFP