Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died this Tuesday, January 7 at the age of 96, founder of the National Front, came to Gard several times.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, a figure in French politics, died this Tuesday, January 7 at the age of 96. The one who had managed to reach the second round of the 2002 Presidential election against all odds had come to the Gard several times.
Came to “break” the trade unionist
Three years after being a candidate for the 1974 Presidential election, he responded to the invitation of business manager Gérard Furnon, who was opposed to the creation of a CGT union in his textile factory in Saint-Christol-lez-Alès. This June 23, 1977, during a tour that he will take to Nîmes and Vaucluse, Jean-Marie Le Pen goes to the gates of Alès in “defender of free enterprise”.
He returned to the Cévennes, to the Méjannes-les-Alès exhibition center, in 1991, sunglasses on his nose, for a meeting with a heated audience, flame of the FN, tricolor flag, former paratroopers from the war of 'Algeria and shock speech.
In the meantime, Gard allowed the Breton politician to begin to establish himself locally. During the 1989 municipal elections, the National Front won its first city of more than 10,000 inhabitants when Charles de Chambrun became mayor of Saint-Gilles. Many years later, the FN and then the RN achieved high scores in the department.
A visit to Nîmes in 2012
In 2012, it was as a European deputy that Jean-Marie Le Pen went to Nîmes first to attend a meeting of an association for the defense of pieds noirs, USDIFRA. On March 24 of that year, he campaigned in Gard to support his daughter Marine, the FN's first presidential candidate. Within Atria, that day we met Alain Jamet, then first vice-president of the party, his daughter France, current European deputy, the former deputy Gilbert Collard, hundreds of activists and a certain Julien Sanchez.
Thank you for having created a party, for having raised it by 0.7% in a second round of presidential elections, for having been able to unite.
Thank you for having embodied hope for millions of French people.
Thank you for allowing so many young people and so many children of workers including myself to enter politics ud83dude4f? pic.twitter.com/5pQRvCQudQ— Julien Sanchez (@jsanchez_rn) https://twitter.com/jsanchez_rn/status/1876616877146849360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The latter is supported in his campaign by Jean-Marie Le Pen in the context of future legislative elections. In a post on the social network X, Julien Sanchez, former mayor of Beaucaire and current MEP, did not forget: “Thank you for allowing so many young people and so many children of workers including myself to enter politics.”
For his part, the newly elected deputy for the 5th constituency of Gard, Alexandre Allegret-Pilot, shared a long tribute message, almost in the form of a preterition, entitled “I don’t know Jean-Marie Le Pen.”
“I don’t know Jean-Marie Le Pen. »
You could often hear this “disclaimer” in French politics when it came to “the one about whom nothing can be said well”, as summarized by Philippe Bilger, who nevertheless fought it intensely.… pic.twitter.com/cHOpEon902
— Allegret-Pilot Alexandre (@AllegretPilot) https://twitter.com/AllegretPilot/status/1876633022977716661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“He defended France and the French all his life”, the tribute from the elected RN of Gard
RN Deputy for Gard Yoann Gillet pays tribute to Jean-Marie Le Pen upon the announcement of his death: “He was a patriot. He defended France and the French throughout his life. Jean-Marie Le Pen was a visionary. He imposed from the beginning in the public debate the major subjects which still structure political life today : immigration, globalization and the downgrading of France, national sovereignty and the risk of dilution in the European Union I think today with emotion of his wife Jany, his daughters Marine, Marie-Caroline and Yann. , to Marion and to his other grandchildren, to his entire family and to his loved ones. I offer them my sincere condolences.
Nicolas MeizonnetRN deputy for the 2nd constituency, shared his emotion on X: “Honor to the menhir, to the one who led the national fight with courage and panache for decades. To God, Jean-Marie!”
Gilbert Collardformer deputy for the 2nd constituency, reacted to our colleagues at Cnews: “We spent our time getting angry and reconciling. I am very sad because I had, at the same time as an opposition, an admiration for the culture, the oratorical talent, the slice of history that this man represents. With his departure, it is truly an era that ends.”
