The RN seizes a commune in Bouches-du-Rhône and goals for 2026 | EUROtoday
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LThe National Rally received, with out shock and with out wave. Since this Sunday, the city of Rognac (12,000 inhabitants, Bouches-du-Rhône) has been added to the checklist of cities held by the occasion or by these near the occasion.
There are solely about fifteen of them, concentrated within the South (Perpignan, Fréjus, Moissac, Mazan, Cogolin, Le Pontet, Bédarrides, Beaucaire, Morières-lès-Avignon, Béziers) and within the North-East (Bruay-la-Buissière, Hénin -Beaumont, Villers-Cotterêts, Hayange), with an remoted conquest within the Paris area, Mantes-la-Ville.
ALSO READ In Béziers, the RN assaults the Ménard citadelDoes Christophe Gonzalez’s victory in Rognac foreshadow a breakthrough within the 2026 municipal elections? Hard to say. In the European elections in June 2024, the RN got here first in 32,613 French municipalities out of 35,015, however successful city halls is a very completely different matter.
A glass ceiling
In a 2020 word, the Jean-Jaurès Foundation highlighted the persistence of a “glass ceiling”. “Apart from a few isolated cases, the RN cannot rally a majority of residents in a locality even if only to manage municipal affairs,” wrote Jérôme Fourquet and Sylvain Manternach.
Four years have handed. It is simply too early to know whether or not the ceiling in query is simply cracked or about to break down. The Rognac seesaw supplies contradictory classes. It was introduced by observers of native politics. The outgoing UDI mayor, Sylvie Miceli-Houdais, was very weakened by an investigation by the native on-line media Marsactu, which reported in March 2024 on alleged embezzlement.
ALSO READ Municipal: the secrets and techniques of the RN voteThe elected official allegedly used the city corridor financial institution card for personal bills. A preliminary investigation is opened. Sylvie Miceli-Houdais’ denials didn’t persuade her working mates. A sequence of resignations on the town council made a brand new election necessary. On October 4, the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture issued a decree to order it.
This affair additional darkened an unconvincing file. Sylvie Miceli-Houdais took the mayor’s chair in September 2020, after the election as senator of the mayor designated in March 2020, Stéphane Le Rudulier. The staff in place was undermined by dissension
Faced with discredited incumbents, the brand new mayor, Christophe Gonzalez, was not carried by a tidal wave. He received the election within the second spherical with 38% of the vote and solely 150 votes forward, in a quadrangular opposing him to a numerous right-winger, Willy Nicollet, to an unlabelled candidate, Maël Vala-Viaux, and to Sylvie Miceli-Houdais.
Conquest or finish of an anomaly?
Aged 53, he’s a newcomer to politics. A local of the city, a nuclear upkeep operator, he joined the RN solely a yr in the past. Barely elected, he declared that in his opinion, the RN was now not far-right.
“It’s a historic victory because it’s been 30 years since the National Rally won a commune in our department,” rejoiced Franck Allisio, departmental delegate of the RN. “It is the result of a successful local establishment and a constant progression of ideas,” posted Marine Le Pen on X.
We might reasonably communicate of the top of a irritating anomaly for the frontists. Rognac is situated on the sting of the Etang de Berre, an space massively received over to the concepts of the RN for a number of many years. In June 2024, the occasion’s candidate for the legislative elections, Romain Tonussi, received the 8e Bouches-du-Rhône constituency by a slim margin (50.24%), however with a peak of 54.67% in Berre-l’Étang and 62.34% in Rognac!
In the primary spherical of the 2024 partial municipal election, Christophe Gonzales obtained a lot much less: 33% of the votes with 51% participation. Franck d’Allisio declared on the night of the victory that the RN discovered itself in “an unavoidable situation for the next municipal elections in the department”, however one can surprise if he believes it himself.
Big cities, land of conquest
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
The RN can progress in Bouches-du-Rhône, concentrating on small cities, nevertheless it stays a challenger in the primary cities. He was not within the majority within the legislative elections in Arles, Aix-en-Provence and Salon-de-Provence. He was in Marseille, however voting by district makes his activity notably sophisticated in municipal elections. His probabilities of victory aren’t zero in Aubagne (he reached 55% within the legislative elections), the place the outgoing mayor Gérard Gazay (LR) will face a dissident from his majority.
As for the brand new mayor of Rognac, he’ll barely have time to show himself earlier than showing earlier than the voters once more in March 2026. Despite the alleged embezzlement, he’s not taking the helm of a ship that’s taking over water . The municipality of Rognac has little debt, it has monetary room for maneuver. See you in simply 15 months.
https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/le-rn-s-empare-d-une-commune-des-bouches-du-rhone-et-vise-2026–25-11-2024-2576228_20.php