The FN will be present in all the cantons of Nice in the upcoming departmental elections. Certainly, but at what price? Analysis.
Since the divorce of the Nice Bleu Marine elected representatives from their list leader in the Nice City Council, and the formation of the Group of Independent Niçois Elected Officials, the National Front has been attempting to restructure itself at the departmental level in recent weeks.
The appointment of Marie-Christine Arnautu to lead FN 06 was an attempt to mark a new phase in the party’s numerous hesitations. So much so that, a month before the departmental elections, the local section is still not fully ready for battle.
Several stages in recent weeks. First, the restructuring of the FN of the Alpes-Maritimes, which prompted the departure of Lydia Schénardi and the withdrawal of Robert Ripoll and his team.
The die was cast, but with whom to drink it? Pressured by the militants and in search of local support, the new head of the FN sought to assert herself by sweeping aside several candidacies at the dawn of endorsements in favor of the Identitarians of Nissa Rebela, who were however candidates against the FN and the parachuting of Marie-Christine Arnautu in March 2014.
At least 4 Identitarians will be candidates in the 2015 departmental elections for the FN, with the possibility for Christian Estrosi, served on a platter, to denounce a far-right alliance far from Marine Le Pen’s usual discourse.
In his letter to the Journal du Dimanche, the mayor of Nice hastened to denounce the return of “an intolerant, anti-Semitic and racist National Front” and to recall the “feats of arms” of the regionalist group.
Beyond Christian Estrosi’s strong words and the slight media frenzy that followed, this alliance, aborted many times, reflects not a strategic evolution for the local FN, but the clear failure of its leaders to mobilize within their own ranks.
Deprived of its elected officials in Nice, the FN has also failed to present Niçois under its label living in their respective cantons while being loyal to a new local… decentralized hierarchy.
In the 6th canton finally: none other than a former running mate from the FN list in the last municipal elections… of Grasse!
by Simèque
