NATIONAL GATHERING. The RN throws its last forces into battle after a late campaign is hardly fought. The far right relies on its program and its results in the presidential election to elect its deputies.
[Mis à jour le 10 juin 2022 à 12h49] The National Rally remains hopeful of seeing its candidates win the legislative elections on June 12 and 19, but it has no illusions about the results of the first round. The campaign came to life in an emergency, during the last week before the election on Sunday, when the RN seemed to be absent subscribers in the face of the presidential majority and the Nupes overrepresented in the media. Result, the latest poll Elabe for BFMTVpublished on June 10 before the reserve period, announces a close duel between the camp of the executive and that of the left able to share two-thirds of the seats in the Assembly when it grants a handful of 25 to 50 seats to the deputies of the party to the flame.
The voting method, majority in two rounds, of the legislative elections is already not favorable to the candidates of the National Rally and the high rate of abstention expected this Sunday does not help the situation of the far right. The party has therefore chosen to strike a blow at the dawn of the ballot by calling every day for the mobilization of voters with different and sometimes surprising tones: that of urgency, that of empathy but also in a tone of guilt . “Help me help you”; “this is the last chance [de s’opposer à Emmanuel Macron, ndlr]”, launched Marine Le Pen to her voters, going so far as to declare on June 5 during her meeting in Hénin-Beaumont: “Those who take the responsibility of abstaining on June 12 will have until the end of their miserable days. to deplore their civic indifference.” To re-motivate the troops, the RN often recalled its historic score in the 2022 presidential election and explained on June 8 in Perpignan that renewing this vote would allow a hundred deputies to sit at the Bourbon Palace: ” We were in the lead in 150 constituencies, so we can have 150 deputies”.
The National Rally has also bet on another angle of attack: the sometimes excessive criticism of the presidential majority and the coalition of the left. The first is attacked mainly on its balance sheet and its measures with pikes similar to those launched during the presidential campaign, when the second is compared to a “political ZAD”, on June 9 for Marine Le Pen on the move in Hérault. Jean-Luc Mélenchon is also personally targeted and presented as the one “who had Emmanuel Macron elected” in the second round of the presidential election by calling not to vote for the RN candidate. At the same time, the far right presents itself as “the only opposition to Macron” even if the campaign reflects the party’s difficulty in bouncing back on its presidential score to win in the legislative elections.
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.
On the purchasing power, the first concern of voters, the RN promises to “increase purchasing power and lower taxes”. The highly defended proposal on the total abolition of VAT on a basket of one hundred basic necessities and the reduction of VAT from 20 to 5.5% on fuel and energy are again put forward. The far right also promises to exempt people under 30 from taxes, especially those who start their own business, to set up a zero-interest loan for young French families and to reindex retirement pensions on inflation. . About retreatsthe RN recalls defending a progressive system guaranteeing retirement at 60 for people who entered working life early and at 62 for those who started working after 25 years.
Much of the RN program is about theimmigration and in this regard the party wishes to “stop mass immigration and restore order” but the subject of immigration is also present in other measures concerning employment. The RN wants to establish the “national priority” to “fix the access of foreigners to any public or private job” and “remove the residence permit” for foreigners “who have not worked for a year in France”. Security is also linked to the question of immigration on certain points of the program of the RN which proposes to expel foreigners convicted of crimes or misdemeanors. More generally side securitythe party suggests the establishment of a presumption of self-defense for the police, to restore minimum sentences and to open additional prison places.
Other measures highlighted in the RN program include an investment in the hospital sector in particular to increase the salaries of caregivers and open 10,000 places in nursing homes, but also the creation of 100,000 housing units for students and the increase in teachers’ salaries by 20% per year for 5 years. L’ecology is the great absence of the RN program, on this subject the party simply explains that it wants to abolish the subsidies granted to wind or solar power and to develop hydroelectricity, photovoltaics, geothermal energy in parallel with the construction of fourteen EPR power stations.
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. Between 25 and 50 seats could be won according to the polls published before the reserve period. It should be noted, however, that the predictions only reflect trends at a time T and that the election results may be different.
What result for the RN in the polls in the legislative elections?
According to polls carried out on voting intentions in the legislative elections before the reservation period, 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 far right with between 3 and 9 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.
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 her 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.