Jordan Bardella in the West Indies, secret visit

“Every time I come back, there are always more people.”Jordan Bardella beamed in front of an audience of activists, Thursday, December 7, during a public meeting held at a hotel in Gosier, Guadeloupe. The head of the National Rally Party has been visiting the Antilles since Tuesday, as part of the campaign for the European elections in June 2024, to mobilize his forces in a territory he considers “The future land of ideas” From his party.

Even if the key to elections at the local level is abstention from voting. It’s even “Our main enemy”Andre Rogge, a member of the European Parliament and national delegate of the far-right party abroad, warned. In the Antilles, the voting percentage was close to 85% in the last European elections, in 2019, but it put the National Rally party’s list at the top of the ballot. The same scenario during the last presidential election in 2022: Martinique gave 60.8% of the votes to Marine Le Pen during the second round, when Guadeloupe gave her its best result with 69.6%.

During the presidential campaign, in March 2022, Marine Le Pen suffered a series of scandals in this department, and witnessed the disruption of the recording of an interview at the hotel where she was staying due to nationalist movements. Even longer, in 1987, his father was not even able to set foot on West Indian soil, due to a popular movement angry at the presence of a far-right party.

“We’re home here”

“Imagine how far we have come!”shouted the National Front leader during his speech. “For those who tell us we are not welcome, we remind ourselves that we are at home here.”, he added. A reference to the various press releases sent during the day by various political opposition organizations, such as the Socialist Party (PS) or even parties and groups of the autonomy and independence movements. He criticized the latter ” [l’]Racist and xenophobic ideology » From the National Front Party, when the Socialist Party challenges its social discourse, considering that the party’s positions in the French and European Parliaments say the opposite. In their view, the fact that Mr Bardella’s meetings were somewhat maliciously organized proves that the FN chief was not welcome.

In fact, the visit was kept secret. “There was no need to rally activists in the middle of the week to welcome them at the airport.”, explains Rudy Tulasi, leader of the RN Guadeloupe team, with a shrug. The residency programme, without being hidden, was timidly confined to inner circles. There are no large meetings with residents in various areas, only meetings with activists to remind them of the need to win voters’ votes.

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