Marine Le Pen absolutely wanted to travel to the West Indies before the first round of the presidential election. A sort of symbol for the candidate of the National Rally (RN), who wanted to show that, in these overseas departments where, for a long time, the far right was considered unwelcome, in particular because of its positions on the colonization, his speech could henceforth find a real echo there.
The demonstration would have been successful if, on Saturday March 26, around thirty identity-based independence activists had not burst into the Hôtel du Gosier, in Guadeloupe, where she was to record a television interview, forcing her to leave the premises promptly. The far-right candidate, who filed a complaint, did not fail to denounce these “violence” and to pose as a victim, even collecting a position from Emmanuel Macron, who declared himself “shocked” and judged the scene “completely unacceptable”.
The President of the Republic, once again a candidate, is aware that the situation overseas is explosive. No need to add more. There is also no need to remind him that, in 2017, in the first round of the presidential election, the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen had won 21.9% of the votes in all of the overseas communities, himself not arriving only in fourth position, with 20.4%, behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon and François Fillon.
Since then, the political balance of power has changed considerably, but the issue remains a priority. During his five-year term, Mr. Macron will have visited all the overseas territories with the exception of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Wallis-et-Futuna. He has recently had “personalized” mail distributed to each mailbox, adapted to each of the territories, took part in an hour and a half interview on Outre-Mer La 1re and should, in the coming days, send video messages which will also be specific to each territory. “If it hadn’t been for Ukraine, he would have gone to Reunion”assures his campaign team, but the candidate president had to adapt his schedule and limit his travels.
Stations of the Cross by Anne Hidalgo
The Macron-Le Pen match did indeed begin in the overseas territories, but it is a three-way match, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon who also devoted particular attention to it. On the other hand, what is striking is the virtual disappearance of the Les Républicains (LR) party and the Socialist Party (PS). For the latter, the descent into hell had already begun during the last presidential election; it continues.
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