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Jordan Bardella has been elected president of France’s leading far-right party, succeeding Marine Le Pen in a symbolic changing of the guard at a pivotal moment in the revived national rally.
Mr. Valdera, a 27-year-old MEP, won an internal party vote with 85 percent of the vote, according to results presented at a party congress in Paris. He became the first leader of an anti-immigration party without Le Pen’s name since its founding 50 years ago.
National rallies are seeking to capitalize on a breakthrough in legislative elections this year and growing support for far-right parties elsewhere in Europe, particularly in neighbouring Italy.
Widespread public outrage was also sparked by a racist remark made in parliament by a member of a national rally this week that called into question years of efforts to soften the party’s image.
Marine Le Pen has said she wants to focus on the 89 politicians who lead the party in the National Assembly. She is still expected to play a major role in the party’s leadership and run for president again in 2027.
Mr Badra has been the interim chairman of the National Rally since Ms Le Pen ran for president last year.
He beat rivals Louis Elliott, 53, the mayor of Perpignan and top officials of the National Rally for 20 years. Mr Elliott, an ardent supporter of Ms Le Pen’s rise and her former romantic partner, won 15 percent of the party vote.
Ms Le Pen lost to Emmanuel Macron in her third presidential bid this year, but won 44 percent of the national vote, her highest score to date. Two months later, her party won the most seats to date in the lower house of parliament.
Ms Le Pen has gone to great lengths to dismantle the racist and anti-Semitic stigma against far-right parties, soften their profile and widen her audience. She was visibly estranged from her now ostracized father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the co-founder of a party then called the National Front.
Political scientist Jean-Yves Camus said: “Valdera was part of a young, very young generation in the 2010s who invested behind Marine Le Pen their own power, and in the era of Jean-Marie Le Pen, they probably wouldn’t have joined the National Rally,” said.
Mr Valdera supports the party’s anti-immigration and protectionist line.
“Today’s progress is called regionalism. It’s called defense of the frontier. It’s called protectionism,” he said ahead of the 2019 European elections, rejecting what he called “mass immigration”.
However, Mr Elliott, the party’s vice-chairman, believes the national rally needs to reinvent itself to make it more popular with those on the mainstream right.
According to Mr Camus, the party vote will not question Le Pen’s leadership.
“The first impact of this election is that Le Pen doesn’t have to deal with the party and can focus on what matters most, leading the party’s lawmakers in the National Assembly,” he explained.
Over the past few months, 40,000 party members have voted online for a new party chairman.
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