RN congress, continued: Bardella acclaimed, Mediapart booed, the campaign opens under strain

The Rassemblement national wanted its Orléans congress to be a show of unity six months before the presidential election. The first day, this Saturday, 24 October, delivered the expected result, but also an image that says a great deal about the climate of the campaign now beginning.

The facts

According to Euronews, Jordan Bardella, the only candidate to succeed himself, was re-elected party president with 98.98% of the votes cast, or 75,497 votes against 779 blank ballots. Electronic voting was open to members from 21 September to 22 October, with turnout close to 68%. Before the activists gathered at the Zénith, he set the course without hesitation.

I am going to need you (...) to lead Marine Le Pen to the Élysée — Jordan Bardella, quoted by Euronews

According to the AFP dispatch carried by Orange and Boursorama among others, the RN president called on his supporters to keep their "composure" in the face of opponents who, in his view, "legitimise violence". He also returned to the accusations of antisemitic writings that have targeted him since late September, which he denies. Marine Le Pen is due to hold her first major campaign rally on Sunday, in a 10,000-seat venue.

Shortly before the two leaders entered, a Mediapart team was confronted by activists and booed by the hall, before being briefly removed by the party's security service, as reported by franceinfo, BFMTV and La Libre. According to franceinfo, the journalists were then able to return to the congress. The context sheds light on the scene: as Public Sénat recalls, on 28 September Mediapart published antisemitic messages dating from 2013 to 2015 that it attributes to Jordan Bardella, relying, it says, on an extraction carried out by Meta. He "formally" disputes this material and has announced new legal action against the outlet. It will be for the courts to decide.

Outside, the counter-demonstration took place peacefully. Figures vary by source: 11,000 people according to the prefecture as reported by Euronews, 13,000 according to the authorities as reported by AFP, 26,000 according to the organisers. Nearly 3,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, according to AFP, that "the coming campaign is somewhat at stake" here.

The positions

For the RN, this unchallenged score proves that the party is united, disciplined and ready to govern. By calling for "composure", its president contrasts the calm of his activists with opponents he accuses of legitimising violence. The party can also point to the polls cited by AFP, which put Marine Le Pen well ahead in both the first and second rounds. On the writings affair, Jordan Bardella disputes both the newspaper's evidence and its sources.

On the left, leaders marching in the procession sounded a very different note. According to Euronews, Olivier Faure (PS) held the RN "responsible" for a "toxic, racist and xenophobic" climate, the day after the deadly shooting near Trappes, and Sophie Binet (CGT) said there is no worse enemy of workers than the far right. These remarks are political judgements; the investigation into the Trappes shooting, entrusted to the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office, will have to establish the exact motives of its perpetrator.

The analysis

A score of 98.98% with no opponent is not a surprise, it is an organisational choice. The RN has made verticality its trademark. One can see efficiency in it; one can also wonder how much room is left for internal debate in a party that claims it will lead the country. The great political families of the Fifth Republic, Gaullists included, have always had currents and confrontations. That was not a weakness, it was democratic breathing room.

The Mediapart episode raises a more serious question. A party has the right to dispute an article, to call it false, to go to court. That is even the normal path under the rule of law. But booing a newsroom and having it removed, even briefly, from an event it had come to cover is something else. Press freedom cannot be divided according to whether journalists are liked or not. A movement that says it is ready for the Élysée will tomorrow have to protect the work of newsrooms that bother it.

Finally, the day's juxtaposition says it all. While the RN celebrated its unity, hundreds of thousands of French people were marching elsewhere against the cost of living, according to the CGT and left-wing parties. Wages, housing and public services are at the heart of social anger. The RN has presented a counter-budget, but the debate over how it would be funded has largely yet to take place. It is on this ground, that of social justice and national cohesion, that republicans of all persuasions must answer it, rather than through indignation alone.

Conclusion

The presidential campaign truly begins this weekend in Orléans. It must not be played out in fear, nor in the street, nor in hostility towards journalists. A simple proposal: that all candidates publicly commit, before the end of the year, to guaranteeing access to their rallies for all newsrooms, without distinction. Who will agree to sign?

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.