Julien Odoul, Gilles Pennelle, Aleksandar Nikolic, François Filoni, Sébastien Chenu, Edwige Diaz, Hervé Juvin: half of the heads of the RN lists in the regional have already been invested.
They meet this Monday at the party's headquarters in Nanterre for a first strategic meeting.
A series of unknowns or near-unknowns for the general public which stands in stark contrast to the situation in 2015 when the very media-intensive Marine Le Pen (in Hauts-de-France), Marion Maréchal (in PACA) or Florian Philippot (in the Grand Est) wore the party colors.
"The president of a great movement cannot be a candidate for everything," explains Marine Le Pen who will not appear, not even in a symbolic position, on the Hauts-de-France list against the outgoing president (and future presidential opponent ?) Xavier Bertrand.
To compensate for this weakness, the RN relies on the youth of many candidates, some of whom are in their thirties.
At 25, Jordan Bardella, to whom Marine Le Pen promises a “great personal future”, is thus very strongly encouraged to present himself in Ile-de-France.
"It's good to show that we want to go into battle," encourages a framework while the one who successfully led the RN list to the Europeans knows that the Ile-de-France region is impregnable.
Personalities to bring together
Another axis: to place “openness” personalities on the lists to underline the idea that the RN is capable of bringing together.
Marine Le Pen conveyed the message to ex-LR MEP Thierry Mariani, elected on the RN list for Europeans, but who does not have his party card.
It is he who will lead the battle in Paca against his former Sarkozy friend Renaud Muselier whose proximity to LREM will be hammered away during the campaign.
"We send Mariani, former LR to explain to LR why we should no longer vote for LR", rejoices a party figure, anxious to send a message to the right-wing electorate.
Among the Republicans, we want to be serene, betting on the fact that voters will prefer the original LR to the copy.
“I'm sure we can win in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
It will depend on the suicidal capacity of the left, but their suicidal capacity is less and less strong, "smiles an RN executive, in reference to the withdrawal of the PS in 2015 in the in-between rounds which had blocked access from Marion Maréchal to victory.
But had deprived the left of regional advisers for an entire term.
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In Occitania, it is this same principle of "openness" which should favor the candidacy of the MEP Jean-Paul Garraud, ex-LR, actively supported by the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot.
"We will have several opening signals on the right, we must also on the left," slips an RN leader who supports the candidacy of the former LFI regional councilor Andrea Kotarac in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
"But the rally must be done up to the RN", ironically answer the executives in favor of a more internal solution… paraphrasing Patrick Devedjian who was moved by the opening to the left of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.
RN sympathizers not very interested in regional ones
Still, to hope to win victories, or at least limit damage, the RN will have to mobilize its electorate who largely shunned the ballot boxes at the municipal elections against the backdrop of the health crisis.
“I am afraid of fear.
50% of our voters did not go to vote in the municipal elections, ”slips Marine Le Pen.
The party will nationalize the campaign as much as possible, recalling that it will be the “last pit stop” to sanction Emmanuel Macron before the presidential election.
Conversely, outgoing region presidents will bet everything on their record and their regional achievements.
“Will we manage to turn the election into a political issue?
Or will we see a location of the poll, as in municipal elections?
It will be in the interests of outgoing presidents to depoliticize and that of… Emmanuel Macron ”, analyzes a leader.
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According to an Opinionway poll, the RN leads (22%), tied with LR, in regional voting intentions.
But RN sympathizers are, according to the same survey, the least interested in regional (only 64% of “interested” people).
The little-known heads of the RN lists will have work.
