The National Rally wants to “enter the town halls massively and above all take some”

The National Rally in Gironde has its new boss. After six and a half years at the head of the federation, Edwige Diaz, who had become a deputy and vice-president of the party, handed over for “statutory and regulatory” reasons, and it was Jimmy Bourlieux who succeeded him, an unsuccessful candidate in the last legislative elections. in the tenth constituency (14.5%).

At 29, the one who already occupies the position of secretary general of the RN at the regional council of New-Aquitaine, after having been that of the RN group in the Brittany region for six years, and parliamentary assistant to the deputy Caroline Colombier (Charente ), intends to quickly launch the construction site for the municipal elections of 2026.

“Entering the metropolitan municipal councils”

“We have a lot of ambition for these elections, with a very clear objective: to enter town halls en masse and above all to take them, announces Jimmy Bourlieux. In 2020, we had already achieved a good performance in Gironde by presenting 25 lists, the objective is to do more, in many territories. “And not only in rural areas where the RN is traditionally established.

The scores of its candidates in the last legislative elections in the Arcachon basin and in certain parts of the metropolis of Bordeaux are turning the heads of party executives. “We are going to watch the Arcachon basin very closely, confirms the new strongman of the RN in Gironde, just like Mérignac and Pessac, territories where we are progressing. » Edwige Diaz concedes that « we were a little too absent from the metropolises the last time. “But if we look at the scores for Pessac, which have increased considerably, there are major cities on which we want to work seriously,” she continues. We have to get into the metropolitan municipal councils. »

“We are seeing new profiles emerge”

Problem: the National Rally has suffered for years from a depth of bench, to borrow from the sports register, insufficient to present lists in large numbers. “We recorded more than 15,000 memberships during the internal campaign, including 400 in Gironde, which brings the number of members in our department to 2,000, underlines Edwige Diaz. It is now the fifth federation in France. »

The MP for the eleventh constituency, who is working on the “institutionalization” of the party, assures “feel a click. “We are seeing new profiles emerge among our members: senior civil servants, business leaders, bailiffs… And many women. “The RN would also be approached according to Jimmy Bourlieux by” advisers, deputies, sometimes mayors, who come out of the woods. “If they are not all labeled, there would be a certain number of “former LRs” assures the president of the federation.

Will all of them nevertheless have the capacity to present themselves within three years? “We are going to set up an internal executive school, announces Jimmy Bourlieux, to respond to Jordan Bardella’s wish that each of our members become an executive of the movement, or a municipal, departmental, regional councilor…” “We are three years old to train them and turn them into candidates, continues Edwige Diaz. We have ambitions for them. »

source site