NATIONAL GATHERING. The National Rally calls on its voters to mobilize in the legislative elections. Marine Le Pen dangles an RN group of a hundred deputies but the polls predict less favorable results.
[Mis à jour le 8 juin 2022 à 14h35] The National Rally is working hard a few days before the first round of the 2022 legislative elections. Despite a late campaign, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella who present the RN as the “sole opposition to Macron” remain hopeful of forming a powerful parliamentary group. And for that, only one solution: convince the voters and aim for a large electorate. In a meeting on June 5 in Hénin-Beaumont, Marine Le Pen assured that “if all our voters come to defend our ideas, we will be able to send between 100 and 150 deputies to the next assembly”. Without aiming for an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the member for Pas-de-Calais still sees big, bigger than in May when she set the goal of obtaining 60 seats at the Bourbon Palace.
In the polls, the Rassemblement comes third behind the presidential majority and the coalition of the left, as for the projections on the number of seats, the far-right party can hope to have between 30 and 50 according to the institutes. Far from the expected hundred deputies, it is becoming urgent for the RN to remobilize its electorate to try to meet its objectives. It was precisely the heart of the speech of Marine Le Pen, Tuesday, June 7 during a press conference given in the Loiret. “It is possible, as we speak, that Emmanuel Macron does not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly. The French still have to go to vote, and in particular those, and they are very many, who are opposed to the toxic policy of Emmanuel Macron”, launched the deputy and candidate for his re-election calling on the French to go to the polls. “Help me help you. If you’re not going to vote, I can’t help you. […] When we are not going to vote, we give half a voice to those […] who are in power”.
Voters of the far right are the first targets of this call for mobilization, but Marine Le Pen like Jordan Bardella will seek support further away, including from the electorate of the left. They target “patriotic voters wherever they come from” specifies the interim president of the RN in a statement.
Who are the National Rally candidates for the legislative elections?
Marine Le Pen was one of the first to formalize her candidacy for the legislative elections through the voice of her right arm, Jordan Bardella, on April 28 from Fréjus. She confirmed in early May to stand for re-election in the 11th constituency of Pas-de-Calais. At the same time, the interim president of the flame party praised the ranks provided by the RN with candidates invested in 567 out of 577 constituencies. Of the six RN deputies present in the Assembly, only four are standing: Marine Le Pen and Bruno Bilde in the Pas-de-Calais, Sébastien Chenu in the North and Nicolas Meizonnet in the Gard. All the other candidates will form the “new generation” of the RN as wanted by Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen.
What result for the National Rally in the 2022 legislative elections?
Marine Le Pen’s result in the presidential election boded well for the legislative polls. For the second time in a row, the MP for Pas-de-Calais won in the second round, a score which gave her momentum to present herself as the first opposition force to Emmanuel Macron. But the momentum immediately subsided. In the current state it is difficult to predict the outcome of the legislative elections, but the lead taken by the presidential majority and the union of the left seems quite clear. The National Rally should still be able to count on its voters and obtain a number of deputies much higher than that obtained in 2017.
What result for the RN in the polls in the legislative elections?
According to polls carried out on voting intentions in the legislative elections, the National Rally could arrive on the third step of the podium on the evening of the first round. The presidential majority and the union of the left would impose themselves in front of the extreme right with between 3 and 7 points in advance. The RN could therefore pay for its late entry into the campaign and its desire to go it alone against the alliances formed around Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Survey studies are also advancing on the number of seats won by each political family and according to forecasts, the RN could hope for around forty deputies elected to the National Assembly, according to the latest estimates which are also the lowest. This number remains amply sufficient to form a parliamentary group.
What is the program of the National Rally?
The National Rally claims to be the “sole opposition” to Emmanuel Macron, but in its campaign the party is fighting both against the presidential majority made up of “predators from above” which, in the words of Jordan Bardella in a statement wants to make France “a trading room” and the coalition of the left made up of “predators from below” who want to “make it a giant squat” according to the president of the RN. The RN defends a program consequently, similar to that defended during the presidential campaign by Marine Le Pen, with the themes of purchasing power, immigration and retirement as priorities.
The purchasing power law being announced as the first to be voted on in the National Assembly, Jordan Bardella does not fail to recall the positions of the RN that the future deputies of the far right will defend “the reduction of VAT by 20% at 5.5% on fuel and energy”, “the total abolition of VAT on a basket of 100 basic necessities” and “the re-indexing of retirement pensions on inflation”. It is certain that the RN will also oppose the pension reform pushing back the retirement age to 65, which Emmanuel Macron assures is essential. Instead, the far right imagines a progressive system that will stagger retirement in 60 and 62 years or more depending on the age of arrival in working life.
Why did the RN refuse an alliance with Reconquest?
He had announced it and camped out his positions, the National Rally relies exclusively on its candidates and the scores obtained during the presidential election for the legislative elections. The extreme party refused to ally with the party of Eric Zemmour despite repeated invitations from the polemicist and his vice-president, Marion Maréchal. The far-right party also opposed the sovereignist alliance formed by Les Patriotes by Florian Philippot and Debout la France by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. There will therefore be no “national union” against the left-wing coalition in the 2022 legislative elections.
The executives of the National Rally justify the party’s choice to race alone with the same argument since the end of the presidential campaign: an alliance between the RN and Reconquest would be incoherent and misunderstood by voters after their strong opposition in April. “Eric Zemmour did everything to make Marine Le Pen lose and to prevent him from qualifying for the second round, and today he comes to ask Marine Le Pen to help him get elected. It’s still contradictory “, has also launched Jordan Bardella on May 3 on France 2.
If he refuses an association with Eric Zemmour and his party, formed for many who resigned from the RN, Jordan Bardella does not reject the voters of the polemicist. On the contrary, he calls on them to choose the National Rally in the first round of the legislative elections. “Come with us! Do not waste your vote even though with 7%, you will not pass the second round in any constituency”, he assures without taking a glove. In addition to voters, Jordan Bardella has tried to get hold of some rising figures of Reconquest! like Stanislas Rigault, president of the movement of young zemmourists. The young activist did not seize the outstretched hand of the RN and was officially invested as a candidate for Reconquest, in the Vaucluse, and his deputy is none other than Marion Maréchal.
Candidates Reconquest! against those of the RN?
Eric Zemmour had assured that he would not present Reconquest candidates! against those invested by the National Rally, a promise made with a view to sealing an alliance of the far right. But without an agreement, the polemicist’s speech did not hold up and 551 candidates were invested by Reconquest!, i.e. 551 constituencies in which the RN and Eric Zemmour’s party will compete.