NICE, France (AP) — At just 28 years old, Jordan Bardella has helped make the far-right National Rally the strongest political force in France. And now he could become the country’s youngest prime minister.
After the voters were propelled Marine Le Pen‘s National Rally to a strong lead in the first round of early parliamentary elections on Sunday, Bardella turned to mobilizing supporters to give their party an absolute majority in the decisive round on July 7. That would allow the anti-immigration, nationalist party to lead the government, with Bardella at the helm.
Who is the president of the National Rally?
When Bardella replaced his mentor, Marine Le Pen, at the helm of France’s leading far-right party in 2022, he became the first person not named Le Pen to lead the party since its founding half a century ago.
His selection marked a symbolic changing of the guard. It was part of Le Pen’s decade-long effort to rebrand her party, with its history of racism, and remove the stigma of anti-Semitism that clung to it, in order to broaden her base. In particular, she has distanced herself from her now disowned father, Jean-Marie Le Penwho co-founded the party, then called the Front National, and who has been repeatedly convicted of hate speech.
Bardella is part of a generation of young people who joined the party in the 2010s under Marine Le Pen, but would probably not have done so under her father.
Since joining at the age of 17, he has risen quickly within the party. He was spokesperson for the party and chairman of the youth wing. In 2019, he was appointed Vice-President, becoming the second youngest Member of the European Parliament in history.
“Jordan Bardella is Marine Le Pen’s creation,” said Cécile Alduy, a professor of French politics and literature at Stanford University and an expert on the far right. “He was created by her and is extremely loyal.”
During the campaign, Le Pen and Bardella have presented themselves as American running mates, with Le Pen vying for the presidency while pushing him to become prime minister, Alduy said. “They are completely aligned politically.”
How did he become the figurehead of the movement?
It was not just the different surname that made Bardella attractive to a party seeking to broaden its appeal beyond the traditionally older, rural voter base.
Bardella was born in 1995 in the northern Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis. His parents were of Italian descent, while his father had Algerian roots. He does not deny these roots, but uses them to soften the tone (and content) of his party’s anti-immigration stance and hostility toward France’s Muslim community.
Although Bardella attended a semi-private Catholic school and his father was moderately wealthy, party-approved accounts emphasize his upbringing in a run-down housing project ravaged by poverty and drugs. Bardella never finished college, but his relatively modest background set him apart from the establishment.
What’s more, he could tell people about it directly—especially young voters. With more than 1.7 million followers on TikTok and 750,000 on Instagram, Bardella has found an audience for his slick social media content, which ranges from more traditional campaign material to videos mocking Macron and seemingly candid glimpses into the life of the potential National Rally top minister.
Sporting a clean-shaven look and social media savvy, he posed for selfies with screaming fans. While his rhetoric is strong on sensitive issues such as immigration — “France disappears” is his catchphrase — he is relatively vague on details.
What does he propose for France?
It was Bardella who, in a post on X, called on Macron to dissolve parliament and call early elections after the president’s centrist group suffered a crushing defeat to the National Rally in last month’s European elections.
When Macron did just that, Bardella, often dressed in a suit and tie, went on the campaign trail, toning down his pop star image to appear more statesmanlike, despite his lack of experience in government.
In recent months, the National Rally has softened some of its most controversial positions, including rolling back some of its proposals for increased government spending and protectionist economic policies, and withdrawing France from NATO’s strategic military command.
Outlining the party’s new program, Bardella said that as prime minister he would promote public order, stricter regulation of migration and limiting certain social benefits, such as housing, only to French citizens. He said dual citizens would be excluded from some specific key jobs, such as state personnel in defense and security. He pledged to cut taxes on fuel, gas and electricity and promised a rollback of Macron’s pension changes. His law-and-order government would also extend to the country’s public schools, extending the ban on cellphones to high schools.
Rivals say his policies could cause lasting damage to the French economy and violate human rights.
Internationally, Bardella has sought to refute accusations that Le Pen’s party has long been friends with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. He said he views Russia as “a multi-dimensional threat to both France and Europe,” and said he would be “extremely vigilant” against Russian attempts to interfere with French interests. While he supports continued supplies of French weaponry to Ukraine, he does not want to send French troops to help the country defend itself. He would also not allow the sending of long-range missiles that could hit targets in Russia.
For voters with low incomes or who feel left out of the economic successes in Paris or the globalized economy, Bardella is an attractive choice, Alduy said.
“The sense of vulnerability that people have to factors outside of their control requires a radical change in the minds of many voters,” she said. “He has a clean slate and comes without baggage from the past.”
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Morton reported from London. Oleg Cetinic in Paris contributed.
