Jordan Bardella paused in his speech, savoring the moment alone on stage. In the front row, Marine Le Pen smiled, unable to hide the tension etched across her face. Pending the Paris Court of Appeal’s decision on July 7 in her trial over her party’s suspected fake jobs at the European Parliament, Le Pen remained, at least officially, a candidate for the 2027 presidential election. Yet behind her back, on this March day in Châlons-en-Champagne, the fired-up crowd was already anointing her heir apparent: If the court confirms her sentence, she will be barred from standing in elections, and Bardella will run in her stead.
Bardella, the last speaker at this rally between the two rounds of the municipal elections, no longer even pretended to be embarrassed by the shouts of “Jordan for president” and “Jordan, save us” and the national anthem interrupting his speech, after having spared his mentor’s address. Suspense and pretense: Such is life in the far-right Rassemblement National until the decisive moment that will determine who will lead the party in its bid to conquer the Elysée Palace.
As her court date draws closer, Le Pen’s “calm of the old troops” is beginning to crumble. Her proclaimed serenity no longer permeates the ranks. The municipal elections are over, the Assemblée Nationale remains paralyzed, and there is no more escaping from the judicial timeline. The RN’s members are giving in to speculation, conjecture and doubts about their future. But since “in politics, only what appears to exist actually exists” (another mantra of the three-time presidential candidate), the RN is making every effort to display an unshakeable sense of unity.
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