Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) has worked hard to shed its far-right extremist roots, but the party's more respectable image has been tarnished by a series of controversies involving candidates who qualified for the final round of the legislative elections on July 7.
The qualification of hundreds of National Rally candidates for the second round of France’s legislative elections has brought to light a number of "black sheep" within the party's ranks, suggesting that the party’s racist and antisemitic roots are still present, despite its recent makeover.
Ludivine Daoudi, an RN candidate in Normandy in western France, was forced to withdraw after a left-wing rival in her Calvados constituency posted a screengrab of Daoudi’s old Facebook account showing her wearing a Nazi cap emblazoned with a swastika.
"She doesn't deny it, she took this photo," said Philippe Chapron, a local RN official,in a radio interview on July 2. "Indeed it was in bad taste. In any case, her candidacy will be withdrawn as of today," he said.
Direct reference to Nazism is a red line for current RN leaders, who have spent years trying to rebrand their party as an anti-immigration movement respectful of democracy. Originally named Front National, the party co-founded by Marine le Pen’s father in 1972 then included former members of Nazi Waffen SS units. The RN decision to withdraw Daoudi was reinforced by media reports that she was member of the Parti de la France, a Pétainist movement with a strong racist streak.
Daoudi is far from being the only candidate for the National Rally causing embarrassment. Here is a roundup of RN candidates who have made racist comments or engaged in unlawful behaviour, putting them at odds with the party’s attempt at a makeover.
Josseline Liban. Aka Jocelyne Liban-Gesrzkourez, as the 69-year-old retiree calls herself on Facebook. This RN candidate in the 2nd constituency of Calvados has used this pseudonym to post dozens of racist and hate messages on social media in recent years. Liban also fuelled antivax conspiracy theories during the Covid-19 pandemic. She deleted her controversial posts after they were revealed by StreetPress, a French online media known for its investigations of the far right.
Louis-Joseph Pecher. Like Daoudi, Pecher lost the support of the RN-LR alliance before the first round of the legislative elections after StreetPress unearthed several racist, antisemitic and homophobic messages he had posted on social media. However, he maintained his candidacy in his Meurthe-et-Moselle constituency in eastern France and managed to qualify for the final round, coming second behind the outgoing left-wing MP, Dominique Potier.
Pecher deleted the @Elgie2108 account of X, on which he had been venting his hatred. Using this pseudonym, he had among other things posted a line from Victor Hugo’s play Marie Tudor that reads "Talking Jew, lying mouth".
Annie Bell. The RN candidate for the 3rd constituency in Mayenne western France is in her own league. Bell hasn’t been singled out for racist comments, but for holding a municipal worker hostage at gunpoint in 1995. The regional daily newspaper Ouest-France reported that she and her husband were then heavily indebted. She entered the town hall of Ernée armed with a rifle and took a secretary hostage for three hours before gendarmes convinced her to release the employee uninjured. She was handed a ten-month prison sentence for “sequestration with weapons”, according to local papers.
Bell told Ouest-France that she would not comment about the case "until after the elections". In the second round, she will face Yannick Favennec, the incumbent MP from the centrist coalition. The National Rally doesn't seem to be bothered by her unlawful behaviour. Jean-Michel Cadenas, the party's local delegate, said that "there's no criminal record, so there's no case". France 24 was unable to confirm the existence of a criminal record.
'A Jew as ophtamologist; a Muslim as dentist'
Paule Veyre de Soras. Another RN candidate qualified for the second round in Mayenne is making the rounds on social media after appearing in a video interview in which she awkwardly tries to deny claim of xenophobia in her party. Asked about allegations that the party still has racists in its ranks, the 50-year-old ambulance driver was at a loss. She eventually replied by claiming to have “a Jew as an ophthalmologist” and “a Muslim as a dentist”.
"It's clumsy and ill-considered, to say the least. It’s coming from a woman who's not used to political expression," said the local RN official Jean-Michel Cadenas , who stressed she did not have experience answering media queries.
The video was an opportunity for Mayenne voters to actually see the face of their potential representative. Veyre de Soras is part of what have been called “ghost candidates”, aspiring MPs unknown in their constituencies, whose campaign leaflets only show pictures of RN leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
Daniel Grenon. Some RN candidates are under investigation for comments made during their campaign. Grenon, the RN deputy running for reelection in the 1st constituency of Yonne, south-east of Paris, is accused of racism after stating in a debate that "people from the Maghreb came to power in 2016, and these people have no place holding high positions". Grenon was then defending the RN’s controversial promise to ban people with dual nationality from holding strategic government jobs.
These were "clearly racist statements, which are unlawful", said Mani Cambefort, a local socialist official, who called on the public prosecutor to look into the case. Grenon said the quote was "erroneous". But the local newspaper L'Yonne républicaine said the quote was confirmed from a recording.
Thierry Mosca. He came second in the 2nd constituency of the Jura with 32.76% of the vote, not far behind the outgoing right-wing MP Marie-Christine Dalloz (38.59%). However, the 60-year-old RN candidate should be ineligible after being placed under guardianship in November 2023, according to the regional daily newspaper Le Progrès.
A guardianship is usually ordered by a court when an individual’s mental capacities are deemed so impaired that he can’t look after his own interest. Adults under guardianship are not eligible to be lawmakers, according to the French electoral code. But they can still run in an election, since only an administrative judge or the Constitutional Council can preemptively bar them from running. If elected, Mosca would likely see his victory contested in court.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
