Sunday night at the Chalet du Lac, headquarters for Marine Le Pen and the FN, activists and supporters did not hesitate to challenge the party line and even their boss. They are not the only ones. In the same ranks of the Front National party, the questions start …
Pascal is a former executive of the Paris FN again become “simple militant”. He kept his grade-depth knowledge of the party. With the second, he found a freedom of speech. And last night, just outside the Chalet du Lac, temporary seat of the FN, it was minel gray. “Not to mention between the two candidates, mistakes were made during the campaign. There are things to hand out flat. “
In the eyes of Pascal, “the party’s name question must be raised quickly . At some point, you have to break the codes. We always associate the FN with Jean-Marie “.
Pour Pascal, ancien cadre du #FN, “une réflexion doit être menée autour du changement de nom.” 1/2 pic.twitter.com/i0vYGx7bUH
— François Grégoire (@f_gregoire) May 7, 2017
Jacques, the FN goes even further. “Maybe the name of ‘Le Pen’ has become a liability? loose the seventy year old, halfway between questioning and affirmation. The concern is that behind Marine Le Pen, there is Marion Le Pen, so we keep the name. “
“We hoped to score better”
Stunned after their severe defeat, even if they have obtained a record number of votes, members of the Front National questioned on Monday the line and the campaign strategy, but also the capabilities of their candidate Marine Le Pen to lead the fight.
To explain the defeat of the “first party of France” , whose candidate garnered 33.9% of votes, the Front National since Sunday night accusing the “coalition system” against the “patriots”. “In the dynamic it was expected to win in the first week (from between the two candidates), then we acted that this would not be a victory, but it was hoped a better score,” says Jean Messiha coordinator of the project.
La réaction de Jean Messiha, coordinateur du projet de Marine #LePen #Presidentielles2017 pic.twitter.com/F5B2AwVdRx
— François Grégoire (@f_gregoire) May 7, 2017
“Hash”
Privately, executives surveyed speak of “disappointment” and even “a mess” . The line “neither right nor left,” is cause for some, while the traditional right-wing electorate has largely carried over Emmanuel Macron (to 61% depending Ifop). “The too one sided, class struggle, is stupid”, said an elected judge.
The leaving from the EU and the euro was a “bugbear for many voters” , noted Pascal Gannat, FN boss in the Pays-de-la-Loire on Monday. We need “an revaluation of the euro”, argued Robert Ménard Mayor of Béziers ally of the FN.
“The zigzags”
Also in the stocks, according to one expert of the FN, “zigzags” of Marine Le Pen during a six-month campaign “Philippot between the line and a rightist line, without coherence”. “Marine Le Pen has tremendous potential, but she does not know to surround” , also says a regional councilor. “All are not professionals”, euphimises an MEP. Referred in particular, Florian Philippot, vice president of the FN and Philippe Olivier, brother of Mrs. Le Pen.
For an elected Southwest we must squarely put a “broom” to the organization, including among very discreet relatives that are Frédéric Chatillon and Axel Loustau, on trial for the financing of campaigns in 2012 and accused of pro-Nazi sympathies.
Some supporters of the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen go further, in this extremely vertical party: to question “Marine”. There certainly had the “hit” of the surprise visit to Whirlpool in Amiens, and the agreement with Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, to “breach” successful counter-FN front.
The debate debacle
But the delivery of Marine Le Pen during the televised debate on the 3rd May, to 16.5 million viewers, crystallizes critics. She “demobilized” to the “faithful”, assure local officials. “I would not have behaved like that” , coolly estimated Bruno Gollnisch on LCP . “She is burned,” says one elected. This is a question “asked by managers, we can not deny” confirms the chosen of the Southwest .
Sunday night, always leaving the Chalet du Lac, the disastrous performance at the debate also came back in many mouths. “The debate is where it went wrong” , Karim loose, “always angry” about it.
But critics immediately agree: “Behind this is a vacuum”. Long seen as an alternative, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen certainly asked on Sunday night for a period of “reflection” internally on the reasons for failure, but it would consider stopping at the core policy. To launch a new round, Le Pen announced an upcoming “profound transformation” of the FN, which is 45 years old.
Name change
Florian Philippot or David Rachline, his campaign manager, said they were in favor of a name change. “Marine Le Pen president of the party of the flowers, it will always be Le Pen and I will always be Marion Maréchal-Le Pen”, challenged it in January.
Some expect Congress provided for the winter for a great explanation. “Until the law, it is argued. But executives want to rebel against the Congress. Otherwise, we will remain a machine spoilt by incompetent managers “, warns a regional elected.
Goal ? Make “finally” coincide frontist structure with the election results … which was already the target of the previous November 2014 in Lyon. This will be under the threat of criminal investigations concerning the assets of Le Pen, suspicious of the fictitious jobs of European parliamentary assistants, especially announced a trial for suspicion of fraud to the detriment of the State in the financing the 2012 campaigns.
