Perpignan Mayor Louis Aliot is campaigning to succeed Marine Le Pen at the helm of the National Rally. He held a public meeting in Dijon on September 30th. Delegate in Côte-d’Or, René Lioret highlighted “a strong dynamic” with new members following the legislative elections.
As part of his campaign for the presidency of the National Rally, Louis Aliot stopped in Dijon on Friday 30 September 2022 to discuss with leaders and supporters from Dijon and Burgundy-Franche-Comté. The federation claimed 125 members for this public meeting.
The candidate did not arrive on conquered ground as most of the regional elected representatives of the National Rally, starting with Julien Odoul, called his rival Jordan Bardella to vote.
Julien Odoul “package for Qatar 2022”
The new Yonne member was absent because he injured his knee on 28 September during a friendly for the National Assembly football team. The Icaunais took it philosophically, indicating on social media that it was “disqualified for Qatar 2022”.
Julien Odoul package, René Lioret, the party’s departmental delegate, welcomed Louis Aliot and a former elected regional official, Sylvie Beaulieu, who joined the city of Perpignan as chief of staff, present at the public meeting as an activist.
We vote until November 3
During the presidential and legislative campaign, Marine Le Pen entrusted the interim presidency of the National Gathering to Jordan Bardella. The day after the legislative elections, the party leader had indicated that she was dedicating herself to leading the new group of 89 deputies in the National Assembly.
The congress will take place on November 5 and will reveal the name of the new president after an electronic vote held until November 3 at midnight.
The candidates are therefore Jordan Bardella, 27, MEP, and Louis Aliot, 53, mayor of Perpignan and vice president of the urban community.
The vote for the presidency, “a question of generations”
For this internal vote, Louis Aliot presented himself in front of the militants with the intention of “only remembering [son] path “, as he explained before the public meeting.
No programmatic axis, no differentiation strategy, no conflict … in short, no wave as Marine Le Pen had enjoined in the context of the “normalization” of the national-populist party.
For the candidate, the confrontation with Jordan Bardella is more “a question of generations” than of political currents. “There is Jordan’s youth and passion and then the serenity and experience that is mine.”
“I manage the most important city of the National Gathering”
“Many know me but many do not know me too”, granted the one who devoted time and energy to conquering the town hall of Perpignan, from 2008 until his election in 2020. Already in 2002 Louis Aliot had started to settle in Midi-Pyrénées on the advice of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
“I have spent thirty years of my life in this movement. I risked everything: my university career, etc. I’ve always been there, I’ve never cheated in one way or another. I ran for president. I accompanied the legislative candidates. I run the most important city of the National Rally ”, developed the populist.
A “strong dynamic” of the RN in Côte-d’Or
“Despite my young age, I follow the affairs of the National Front at the regional level. At the time it was about Jaboulet-Vercherre, and then about Édouard Ferrand who is a dear friend, and today it is about Julien Odoul “, said the candidate, addressing a polite word to the deputy who still does not support him. disagreements with Sophie Montel begin during the previous regional mandate.
“[À la présidentielle]we achieved good results in Côte-d’Or “, René Lioret rebounded,” despite the handicap of the metropolis, (…) the department achieved 43%, it is a point and a half more than [le résultat national]”.” We still have a metropolis that represents 52% of the department, which voted by Macron majority with the contribution of the votes of Mélenchon. (…) We came first in 450 out of 700 municipalities of the Côte-d’Or. With the big cities: Montbard, Châtillon, Genlis, Auxonne … “
“We qualified two legislative candidates in the second round, almost three. My colleague from the Haute Côte-d’Or won almost 40% against a Republican [NDLR : Hubert Brigand, élu]. I won almost 46% against the outgoing MP from La République en Marche | Editor’s note: Didier Paris, elected]. So there was a lot of work. There was a formidable campaign by Marine Le Pen in this regard: the messages she was able to send to give back to the French their country, their money and to make them retire at a reasonable age “, explained the departmental delegate, welcoming a “strong dynamic”.
“The first steps of the group in the Assembly did very well”
“There has been a turnover of members with us. There are many old ones but also many new ones. It also allows you to introduce yourself to newcomers, “Louis Aliot slipped onto his stage in Dijon.
René Lioret confirmed an increase in members of the Côte-d’Or with 30 new cards published by the legislative elections, not counting the renewals, including “two teachers, one in Beaune, one in Dijon, a tobacconist”. “They are people who join and who want to go further in their commitment”.
“The first steps of the group in the Assembly did very well. This group has upset the view that some may have had of our political formation ”, analyzed Louis Aliot, insisting on the“ pragmatism ”of the deputies of RN.
“We are not immune from a law that will arrive in six months”, he estimated, seeing in this vote at the congress also a way to “mobilize” the militants. “You saw Emmanuel Macron’s last words saying he would break up if there was a problem. He will do it, I don’t see him spending five years in the same clogs waiting for it to happen, (…) if only to create institutional turmoil and try to recover a power that he no longer has ».
Focus on the 2026 municipal elections
Arriving by car directly from Perpignan (Pyrénées Orientales), Louis Aliot continued his journey in the north-eastern sector, heading in the following days to Nancy (Lorraine) then to Colmar (Haut-Rhin).
Despite the possibility of dissolution of the National Assembly, the local leaders of the party are already heading for the municipal elections of 2026 with, as a first challenge, the establishment of lists since it is in particular to bring together 37 candidates in the Beaune elections and 60 in Dijon.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
René Lioret thinks about the “normalization” of the National Gathering
