When he took up his duties as director general of the National Rally (RN) in November 2022, appointed by Jordan Bardella, Gilles Pennelle, former professor of history and geography, banged hard on the desk and promised a sweep . In order to put the party back in working order, it seemed to him necessary that the deputies do not combine their function with that, voluntary, of departmental delegate of the party. It is easier, we observe internally, to dictate the law to a novice departmental delegate. The popular students pretended not to understand the instructions: Sébastien Chenu, in the North, and Franck Allisio, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, two of the biggest federations, clung to their desks. Three months later, they are still there, with the blessing of Jordan Bardella.
Twenty-three deputies were affected by this rule, in which the new president of the RN did not believe. In February, half of them are still departmental delegates. “It’s not a problem, I didn’t want to generalize, said Jordan Bardella to the World. But yes, in principle, many deputies are overloaded and could not do the job of departmental delegate. The double-sided business card, at some point, it no longer holds. »
The changes of departmental delegates are not without clashes. In January, Le Figaro brought to light the tensions in the federations of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Vendée or Corsica, where some activists accuse the Parisian headquarters of a form of contempt. “It’s the life of a political movement, you will always find material to write articles of this type, sweeps Jordan Bardella. But we are closer to the problems. There are videoconferences with departmental executives every fortnight. »
Islamophobic videos
Some profiles suggest the party’s difficulty in renewing its local executives. In the Hautes-Alpes, it is a 75-year-old man, Armel Brisson de la Messardière, who is responsible for revitalizing the federation. Ephemeral top of the list in the 1is sector of Marseille, at the municipal elections of 2014, he had been exfiltrated after the newspaper Marianne spotted racist posts on his Facebook account. Here it is again nine years later, with presentable social networks.
More than that of the new departmental delegate of Isère, Olivier Guyot, who relays Islamophobic videos or, until the summer of 2021, messages hostile to Marine Le Pen or pro-Zemmour. In this big federation, the outgoing, the deputy Alexis Jolly, had however recommended another profile.
You have 35.91% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.