As the Ukrainian conflict intensifies and drives up energy prices, the RN candidate continues her tour of small and medium-sized municipalities by developing her proposals on purchasing power.
Gabrielle, 20, accompanied her best friend, Sephora, 19, an educator-instructor in a home, “thoroughly into politics”, to attend her very first meeting, in Bouchain, 4,000 inhabitants, 60 kilometers south of Lille. “Coming here makes it possible to reach everyone, especially those who would not have had the means to travel; she is the only one to do that”, explains Magalie, 38, employed in a trade.
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“The history of the world was played out here: during the Second World War, the Germans were spectacularly delayed, which allowed the Resistance to organize itself”, recalls the mayor, a former socialist, who does not does not share the ideas of the RN but wants to guarantee pluralism. No presidential candidate had ever organized a meeting in this town, which placed Marine Le Pen in the lead in the first round in 2017, with 37% of the vote, and voted RN at 44.35% in the first round of the regional elections in 2021.
This Saturday, March 12, in front of more than 1,000 people, the far-right candidate took over a gymnasium to unfold her measures in favor of purchasing power. “The fuel price hike is now out of control. […] In some stations, diesel has taken 70 cents in two or three days”, she gets carried away by promising to reduce VAT to 5.5% on the prices of gas, gasoline and electricity. . With me, it will immediately be more money in your wallets!” She unveils that evening a new proposal: “An emergency measure” to remove VAT on a basket of a hundred basic necessities if inflation continues to rise. The room applauds.
On these lands of Hauts-de-France, the left-wing parties have lost their anchorage and the RN has established itself
“We are where we need to be, in direct contact with the French people and their concerns”, she slips the next day. “The other candidates are focusing on the big cities with their Zéniths, completes the spokesperson for the RN and deputy for the North, Sébastien Chenu. We are popular France, forgotten, sometimes despised by Emmanuel Macron. A France which has the feeling that everything happens elsewhere: health, culture, politics…” In these lands, the left-wing parties have lost their anchorage and the extreme right has established itself. “The whole sector votes for us,” boasts Steeve Briois, the mayor of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais).
Over the past thirty years, RN voting has become more rural and peri-urban. Our daily Ifop poll for Paris Match confirms this: up to 25% of the inhabitants of rural municipalities support Marine Le Pen. The challenge for her: to mobilize her electorate, an issue all the more important as abstention is strong among young people and the working classes. “If all our voters go to vote, we win the election,” she repeats in private, convinced that she will be in the second round. One month left to convince. “From now on, days count double!” wants to believe the boss of the RN.
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