France’s far-right National Organization (RN) has elected Jordan Bardela as its new president. It received the support of the majority. The 27-year-old MEP will succeed Marine Le Pen in the post, Reuters informed.
Bardella, who had already been interim president for a year, got almost 85% of the votes of party members against 15% for rival Louis Alio, former partner of Le Pen.
For the first time, the party will be led by a person who is not part of the Le Pen family.
Le Pen, who toned down some of the party’s anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic policies, stepped down from RN’s leadership structure in 2021 ahead of his failed presidential candidacy in this year’s elections, won by incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
I will not leave the far right to take a vacation. We will be where the country needs me, Le Pen said at the party conference on Saturday. He is expected to make another run for the presidency in 2027.
Bardella, who comes from a working-class neighborhood, said he would continue his efforts to attract voters from outside the party’s far-right core. In his words, the fact that someone outside of Le Pen’s family is leading the far right is a small cultural revolution.
The former National Front party was founded in 1972 by Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Bardella takes over after the French parliament on Friday cut the salary of a far-right lawmaker and temporarily banned him from entering the courtroom for shouts of “Back to Africa!” to a black MP.
