It is an exposure that is expected. That of Marine Le Pen, this Sunday at the Palais des Congrès in Cap d’Agde, in front of the members of the RN during a back-to-school speech. The opportunity for her to take stock of the presidential and legislative elections, marked by a record of votes and deputies, but also of her mandate as president of the party, since she is about to hand over.
She will also pass after Louis Alliot and Jordan Bardella, the two contenders for her succession at the head of the far-right formation that a vote of the militants must decide between here at the beginning of November. In Agde, the RN, with its 89 deputies, wants to demonstrate once again “normalization of the party”. “This is the first time that we can bring together so many people”, smiles one of them, Philippe Ballard, noting that “we are doing like the other parties, in the good sense of the term”.
“The RN vote has become a membership vote”
In the half-filled room of the Palais des Congrès on Saturday, the pollster Jérôme Sainte-Marie gave water to the far-right mill, invited to discuss “the state of France”. The specialist in electoral behavior notably assured that “the RN vote has become a vote of membership, and no longer a protest vote”. “It’s symbolic, people from civil society ostensibly come to work with us,” rejoices Marine Le Pen’s special adviser, Philippe Olivier, to complete the demonization of the party founded fifty years ago by Jean-Marie Le Pen. .
Beyond the trip to Occitania, Jérôme Sainte-Marie has been tasked for the next few months with setting up an RN “executive school” by describing himself as a “service provider” for the National Rally, and by defending himself to be partisan (“You know a lot of pollsters who don’t brag about advising this one or that one?”). And welcomes “the act of faith in the party” of the Lepenist leaders who want to “constitute their own elites”.
The Agde meeting is also “a training session before the parliamentary session”, remarks the deputy Laurent Jacobelli, where it is a question of preparing legislative proposals, “in particular on the reduction of VAT on energy , or less immigration”, while the budget must be examined in the fall. On this point, the instructions are clear: all RN deputies should vote against.