The area around Etang de Berre (Bouches-du-Rhône) is a historic area of the National Rally (RN). In 1995, the Lepéniste party, then called the National Front, won the towns of Marignane and Vitrolles, which were two of its biggest electoral successes at municipal level and, for the party, a lasting symbol of its inability to manage a municipality. Thirty years later, as ruler of four constituencies bordering this vast saltwater lagoon, the RN is showing renewed interest in these banks where heavy industry, activity zones, dormitory towns and threatened natural spaces offer an unusual landscape. “Since the 2024 legislative elections, the pool will be in the shape of a patriotic lake, the colors are blue, white and red. We will confirm this in the regional elections.”promises Franck Allisio, delegate of the RN federation department and, since 2022, deputy of the 12th electoral district, which occupies the south bank.
Martigues, Vitrolles, Berre-l’Etang, Fos-sur-Mer, Istres, Gignac-la-Nerthe, Le Rove… Around the water, the RN targets several towns of various sizes. While its national investiture commission lists its options, Romain Tonussi, the RN deputy for the 8th electoral district, on the north bank of the pond, has already announced “record the number of applications”. “Two thirds of the residents of my constituency will be able to vote for the RN list in their city”he assured. A leap compared to 2020, when far-right parties appeared in only 20 of Bouches-du-Rhône’s 119 communes.
The RN also hopes to retain Rognac, which was defeated at the end of 2024 in a partial election, and see the mayor of Marignane, Eric Le Disses (variously right-wing, who bought the “brand” Rally for the Republic, RPR, with Franck Allisio), an ardent proselyte of the “unity of the right” and still vice-president of the departmental council chaired by Martine Vassal (variously right-wing), win a fourth mandate. “The Etang de Berre is the heart of our electorate. A suburb from Marseille that voted for the RN because it was deeply disillusioned with the other parties. A middle class that can no longer afford to always pay more and earn less, that wants order, fiscal and social justice. And wants to free political personnel exhausted by power”stressed Franck Allisio.
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