Marine Le Pen struggles for answers

 

Marine Le Pen struggles for answers

 

French far-right leader unlikely to change course at party congress despite failure in regional elections.

Right-wing critics of Marine Le Pen are getting louder |

 

BY CLEA CAULCUTT

July 2, 2021 4:03 am

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-marine-le-pen-national-rally-struggle/

 

PARIS — Members of France’s far-right National Rally are asking serious questions of leader Marine Le Pen after the party’s poor performance in regional elections.

 

So far, Le Pen doesn’t have any answers.

 

The party chief has not been seen or heard in public since admitting defeat after the National Rally (RN) failed to gain control of any region last Sunday, dealing a blow to her presidential election hopes.

 

The RN also lost more than 100 regional councilors in the elections, which the party leadership had hoped would be a springboard for next year’s presidential poll.

 

Le Pen’s critics on the right say the poor performance is a result of her strategy of trying to make the party less extreme, by ditching policies such as exiting the euro, and even changing the party’s name.

 

“Our proposals are less divisive, so necessarily we are less interesting to voters who want to challenge the world of politics,” said Bruno Gollnisch, former MEP and one-time rival to Le Pen. “I’ve always thought it was unfair that we were seen as a toxic party, but at least we were different. We were an alternative to other parties.”

 

“The party, and not just Marine Le Pen, needs to draw the lessons of what happened,” he said, calling for bold, controversial proposals.

 

A former National Rally adviser who still follows the party closely said polling showed the RN was particularly hit by low voter turnout and “a rebellion” of voters against a party “no different to others.” The grassroots of the party is “furious,” the ex-adviser said.

 

The RN rank and file will finally hear from Le Pen at a party conference in the southern town of Perpignan this weekend. But few expect much self-scrutiny, let alone a change in course.

 

 

“She is at a dead end,” the ex-adviser said. “She can’t change her strategy now, it would be admitting she doesn’t support her own manifesto. She has to carry on to the end.”

 

Family drama

With defeat has come a new twist in the Le Pen family feud, with longtime National Front leader Jean-Marie, Marine’s father, telling followers that the National Rally needs “virility” or else it will face “extinction.”

 

But, speaking after the defeat last Sunday, Marine Le Pen put the blame squarely on other factors — such as low turnout due to lockdown easing, a crisis of local democracy and the government’s “disastrous handling of the election.”

 

Such explanations frustrate Le Pen’s critics on the right, who accuse the leadership of looking for excuses everywhere except in their own performance.

 

“It’s like a football team,” said Jean Messiha, a former RN staffer who left the party last year. “When you’ve had a disappointing run, you can’t keep blaming the coach, the ball and the pitch.”

 

But while Le Pen may be down, she’s certainly not out. Polling shows Le Pen and President Emmanuel Macron are still the clear frontrunners in the race for the Elysée, which will culminate in elections next April.

 

 

At the congress, Le Pen, the sole candidate for the RN leadership, is expected to be re-elected and become the party’s presidential candidate.

 

The chances of a mutiny at the congress are slim to non-existent. There will be a lot of fresh faces in attendance, members who were promoted in the run-up to the regional elections and owe their rise to Le Pen.

 

And the leadership insists there’s no need for change.

 

“When I meet RN members out on the campaign trail, they support the direction Marine Le Pen has taken,” said one of Le Pen’s close allies. “There is no challenge to the party line because our strongholds held.”

 

But there might be a gesture during Le Pen’s address on Sunday, “something concrete” to show that “we have not abandoned the themes that made us popular,” said her ally.

 

Leadership shuffle

On Saturday, members are expected to vote through a change to the party’s statutes, allowing Le Pen to temporarily leave the leadership of the party. Officials hope this move will widen her appeal and give her presidential campaign more freedom.

 

Le Pen’s protégé and party vice-president, Jordan Bardella, and the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, are both in the running to take over the presidency in her absence. An announcement is expected this weekend ahead of a handover after the summer, according to one of Le Pen’s close allies.

 

Observers will also be watching the reelection of the National Council, a 120-member assembly, which gives an indication of the powers at play in the party. But with heavyweights such as Le Pen’s niece Marion Maréchal and her former righthand man Florian Philippot having left the RN, it’s unclear how instructive the vote will be.

 

What’s happening outside the party may be more relevant. The controversial TV pundit Eric Zemmour is mulling a presidential bid, a move that could damage Le Pen’s presidential prospects.

 

Le Pen’s defeat in the recent elections could accelerate his plans. “The window is wide open,” said Messiha, now one of Zemmour’s allies.