In a meeting in the middle of Morvan this Friday, June 25, the candidate of the National Gathering presented his vision of the outgoing president’s assessment to better highlight his “regional priority” proposal. At the same time, Julien Odoul particularly targeted the Greens as well as Gilles Platret.
Bard-le-Régulier, 550 meters above sea level, 70 inhabitants. This rural town in the Morvan Regional Natural Park was selected this Friday, June 25, 2021 for a public meeting by Julien Odoul, candidate of the National Rally in the second round of regional elections in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
On June 20, 151,626 voters voted for the list led by Julien Odoul, or 7.71% of those registered and 23.19% of the votes cast. In a context of deconfinement, the low participation of 34.87% is pointed out by the party of Marine Le Pen, the big loser of the first round. In 2015, the Front National had counted twice as many votes in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
It is therefore the last straight line to mobilize voters. A last face-to-face meeting this time, between meeting and garden party. The weather is good, the altitude brings air under the late afternoon sun.
The meeting is indeed being held outdoors, on private property. A platform is installed under a small barn. The mayor of Bard-le-Régulier, Patrick Gernotte (without label) welcomes the candidate. About 80 people are present, including a large number of running mate.
A change of poster for the second round
If the faces of Marine Le Pen and Julien Odoul appear on the banner at the back of the gallery, it should be noted that the candidate has appeared alone on the electoral panels since Monday.
“The posters have evolved because it’s the second round and the campaign is different, the stakes are different, you have to mobilize differently. (…) For the second round, we elect a President of the Region so Marine Le Pen was no longer intended to be present on this poster but it is present everywhere, on the leaflets, on the banner, in the hearts of all the activists. who are here at Bard-le-Régulier, ”explains Julien Odoul on the sidelines of the meeting.
The candidate, refuting any national instructions, indicates that it is a question of “bringing together beyond the National Gathering, that is to say the right-wing voters who do not want the left”.
“Mr. Platret has become a useless candidate who hinders the alternation”
“The objective is really to embody the alternation and especially the barrier to the left, to the extreme left, with this merger between the socialist candidate and the Greens, the green extremists. There is only one useful vote which is the National Rally vote which I embody and I call for a large gathering for a Region which protects at the same time security, employment, territorial balance and especially which protects the values of the Republic which will be threatened if the Greens arrive at the direction of the Region, ”explains Julien Odoul.
“Mr. Platret has become a useless candidate who hinders the alternation”, analyzes the candidate, “I extended my hand to him, he did not wish it, I am extending my hand to his electors quite simply to prevent our Region from being co-managed by green extremists ”.
Julien Odoul targets the Greens
“The management of the Greens in their municipalities has been extremely worrying”, adds Julien Odoul, “it is a party which has a totalitarian vision of society, it is a party which does not respect the values of the Republic, it is is a party which has connections with Islamism, which develops communitarianism, which finances it. We see it in Strasbourg, we see it in Grenoble. It’s a party that is totally crazy and uprooted, we see it to remove the Christmas trees, for menus without meat ”.
“The roadblock can be done. If the voters of the National Assembly move, they win. Every time they moved, they won. I count on a democratic start on Sunday, ”declares the candidate.
“My program, I focused on the defense of rurality”
Bard-le-Régulier is located near the three borders of Côte-d’Or, Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire. “The Morvan is a land of resistance and we need resistance”, declares Julien Odoul to explain the choice of the village, “I think that the National Rally is today the only movement of resistance to the system, to all policies. that hurt Burgundy-France-Comté. It is a rural territory. My program, I focused on the defense of rurality, on territorial rebalancing, in particular with my rural shield, on the preservation of the forgotten rural areas who represent the vast majority of Burgundy-Franche-Comté ”.
“There is a desire to distort the ballot”
Conceding that his own campaign was “weighed down” by “stink balls galore”, Julien Odoul prefers to ignite the counter-fire of the distribution of electoral propaganda by indicating that, in Yonne and Territoire-de-Belfort in particular , his profession of faith would not have been included in the envelopes sent by the prefecture for the second round.
“There is a desire to distort the ballot, deliberately, and, as luck would have it, it is in my department where I came out on top, one can wonder,” he insists.
The quadrangular seen as “a chance”
First to get on the platform, Dominique-Alexandre Bourgois begins by thanking the running mate and activists for “the work done” during the campaign. Géraldine Grangier takes the floor briefly to mobilize: “we believe in it, we want things to change, we want a new policy”.
Quickly, Jacques Ricciardetti hands the microphone to Julien Odoul for a 45-minute speech in front of an audience appearing at first glance attentive or even resigned. A single French flag will be flown from time to time.
The first word of the candidate will be for the mayors seen as the “first representatives of the Republic in our municipalities” before moving on to the “democratic Trafalgar” of the first round, placing the responsibility for abstention on the “government” which would have “Everything done so that it is massive”.
Julien Odoul recalls having warned about the potential level of abstention from mid-May (read our article). As a result, the candidate of Marine Le Pen urges “to reconquer the sovereignty of the people”. In the immediate future, the quadrangular of the second round is seen as “a chance”: “it allows the voters of the National Rally to dictate this election”.
The candidate will review all his campaign themes: Region which “protects”, defense of rurality, redevelopment of small towns, salaried doctors …
A long sequence concerns social plans and job cuts announced in companies established in Burgundy-Franche-Comté including MBF Aluminum, “confession of the treason of a guilty region”
“Marie-Guite Dufay has made the region the least attractive in France, except for migrants”, launches the speaker to applause, regretting that the budgets dedicated to training in French have not been redirected to support regional businesses during the health crisis.
“Social work means helping our own people before others”, summarizes Julien Odoul. “With us, no euro of the regional budget will be devoted to other priorities than those of Burgundians and Francs-Comtois, it is the regional priority”, he launches under thunderous applause.
The candidate of the RN then proposes his vision of the assessment of the management of the outgoing president, focusing on the “price of living together”, evoking the policy of the city as “madness”. “We will act to eradicate delinquency in Burgundy-Franche-Comté”, assures the speaker.
International solidarity, contemporary art, wind turbines, increased taxation on vehicle registration documents or fuel, privatization of the Pontigny estate, subsidy for the Festival of Ideas are criticized.
“Gilles Platret pretended to speak like the RN”
Calling for mobilization around his candidacy as a “bulwark to the left and the extreme left”, Julien Odoul once again addresses “Republican voters” before tackling Gilles Platret: “he pretended to speaking like the RN, he pretended to act like the RN, he pretended to copy all the proposals of the National Rally! ”
“A voice for Platret is a voice for Dufay, a voice for Dufay, it is a voice for the extreme left”, insists Julien Odoul who concludes with a “victory is in front of us” which raises the audience enthusiasm.
The meeting ends with a Marseillaise while the evening continues around the buffet prepared by the activists a few hours before the end of the campaign.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
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