At the RN electoral HQ,
The glasses of champagne are arranged in a pyramid on the buffet tables. Proof that the suspense is not very great during this electoral evening of the National Rally, this Sunday, at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy, in eastern Paris. A few minutes before the announcement of the European results, the activists gathered in front of the giant screens. A glass of red or white in one hand, a tricolor flag in the other. “I’m still a little scared,” says a young man, his eyes glued to the TV.
The room exults: Jordan Bardella obtains more than 32% of the votes, the highest national score in the history of the party for a first round. Above all, the young boss of the National Rally inflicts a severe slap on Macronist power, relegated to more than 15 points.
“Macron and Attal got so wet”
In the aisles, relief dominates and the speeches were well rehearsed. “This result is an electoral slap in the face for Emmanuel Macron, the unprecedented gap reflects a scathing disavowal of his policy. The French are fed up, it no longer has legitimacy,” says Léonard Thomazo, head of young RN in Ille-et-Vilaine. Within party officials, the discourse is the same. “Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal got so involved in this campaign, they cannot fail to learn a national political lesson from it. The executive is in a serious and unprecedented situation,” adds Gilles Pennelle, executive of the movement and new entrant to the European Parliament.
The tricolor flags wave again, the “Jordan!” Jordan! » greet the arrival of the head of the list on the small stage. “The President of the Republic cannot remain deaf to the message,” says the young leader of the movement into the microphone. “We welcome this result with humility, with gravity and with a spirit imbued with very high responsibility,” he adds, looking oddly serious. Does he already know what is going on?
The surprise announcement and the shadow of a doubt
Because for a few minutes, the announcement of a speech by the Head of State has sparked questions and rumors. At 9 p.m., Emmanuel Macron is booed when he appears on the giant screen. But when he announced a dissolution of the National Assembly, causing new legislative elections on June 30 and July 7, the activists hugged each other, as if to celebrate a new victory. “Come on, let’s get back into the campaign!” », laughs an activist.
The party executives, present in the room, are much less smiling and quickly rush upstairs for an emergency meeting. They refuse to immediately answer journalists’ questions, probably taken by surprise by the surprise announcement from the President of the Republic. It’s Marine Le Pen who then comes to the microphone to give the right word.
The former presidential candidate first welcomes the “historic” result of his party, then the presidential announcement of a return to the polls. “We are ready, we are ready to exercise power and restore the country,” she said to cheers. A slightly disjointed speech lasting barely three minutes, probably hastily arranged. She then leaves the room, without the usual smile of victorious election nights. Is the fault in the “coup de théâtre” invented this evening by Emmanuel Macron? His party must already go back to campaign and has perhaps never been so close to coming to power.