Marine Le Pen, re-elected unanimously as president, proposed on Sunday to rename the far-right party she leads, which has been called the National Front since its creation in 1972, to “National Rally.”
The leader justified this change: “To govern”: this is precisely what explains the name change desired by the far-right party. “Originally, we were a protest party, then with our entry into the assemblies, we became an opposition party. It must be clear to everyone that we are now a governing party.”
Repeating her new motto, “culture of alliance.”
“To implement alliances because under the Fifth Republic, which is based on a two-round voting system, winning without alliances is difficult,” she affirmed.
A new leadership of around one hundred people was elected. Among them are Marie-Christine Arnautu, in 10th place, and Philippe Vardon, thus strengthening his influence on the “rally” at the local level.
After the bitter failure in the presidential election, followed by the legislative elections, and the existential crisis facing the party, weakened by Florian Philippot’s departure and the creation of his party “The Patriots,” Marion Maréchal Le Pen’s withdrawal, and the new political landscape since Macron’s rise to power, will the Lille congress be synonymous with a fresh start? Marine Le Pen hopes so.
Since leading the party in 2011, Marine Le Pen has tried to detoxify its image, restoring a credibility it has recently lost, after garnering over 10 million votes in the second round of the presidential election in 2017.
Will the complete exclusion of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party’s co-founder and its soul for many years, allow it to definitively turn the page?
The National Rally claims 52,000 members.
