Ousted from the new executive body, the mayor of Hénin-Beaumont Steeve Briois split a press release, denouncing a “purge” and a “re-radicalization” of the RN.
Everything had to go as planned. For its 18th Congress, the Rassemblement National had seen things in a big way, at the Maison de la Mutualité, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. A symbolic place, to consecrate the advent of Marine Le Pen’s successor, Jordan Bardella at the head of the party. Elected with 84.84% of the vote, the 27-year-old MEP savored his victory on stage, hand in hand with Marine Le Pen, against a backdrop of showers of sparks. The loser of the election, Louis Aliot, who collected only 15.16% of the vote, left the room, smiling, assured of obtaining the first vice-presidency of the party as a consolation prize.
It was only at midday that things went wrong, when the composition of the national and executive offices (internal bodies of the movement) was revealed. If the mayor of Perpignan has retained his place in the essential bodies, some of his relatives, on the other hand, have been ousted. This is the case of the mayor of Hénin-Beaumont, Steve Briois (yet arrived 4e to the National Council, a sort of internal parliament of the RN), and deputy Bruno Bilde, close to Marine Le Pen and representatives of the historic cell of marinism. A small internal revolution which had the effect of a bomb and caused an internal turmoil only a few hours after the coronation of the new president. The northern city councilor immediately issued a murderous press release, denouncing a “re-radicalization” party. “I regret that years of demonization are being undone, with the sole purpose of pleasing an electoral minority“, he writes, pointing the finger”the adoption of right-wing postures contrary to the neither right nor left that prevailed in the National Front.“And to conclude, justifying his choice of not having accepted the place offered to him by Jordan Bardella at the National Office:”This would have been only a pretext not to confess what is more like the beginning of a purge against those who defend the social line.»
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“Jordan Bardella had promised to ride with a Leclerc tank on their town hall, it’s done“, laughs an observer. Psychodrama at the National Rally, and already an internal rebellion even though the new president has not yet delivered his induction speech. “Two slingers out of 36,000 voters, we’ve seen worse“, reacts the entourage of Jordan Bardella, adding that the latter proposed, the day before, to Bruno Bilde and Steeve Briois to integrate the authorities, and that the latter would have refused.
On all sides, the executives who read the text at the same time as the press embark on a mine-clearing operation. “There are always disappointments in this kind of election, it’s nothing new”, tempers Thierry Mariani in front of a handful of journalists. “Jordan Bardella was elected at 85%insists Laurent Jacobelli. It is an error of analysis on the part of Steve Briois, and the drift he denounces is clearly false. There is no eviction or page turning, Steeve Briois remains mayor of Hénin Beaumont and a member of the party, but in politics, you don’t have a job for life, and you have to know how to pass the baton to some people.Both have just been elected members of the National Bureau.
SEE ALSO – Elected president of the RN at 27, the meteoric rise of Jordan Bardella