The leader of the National Rally deputies, Marine Le Pen, begins a two-day visit to Mayotte on Sunday, where she plans to meet rescuers and victims three weeks after the passage of Cyclone Chido.
Marine Le Pen is due to arrive on the devastated island “at the beginning of the afternoon, by a military flight”, specifies her entourage.
Once there, “she will meet civil security, then go to meet the residents”, before “a time of discussion planned for the end of the afternoon in Mamoudzou with disaster victims”. The rest of its program on Monday and Tuesday is not yet known, but “the objective is to meet the victims on several points of the island”.
“Additional pressure on the government”
Failing to provide tons of aid, or to be able to announce measures like Emmanuel Macron then François Bayrou before her, this visit by Marine Le Pen is “a sign of support (and) affection for our Mahorais compatriots”, said its spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli on Saturday on France Inter.
The far-right opponent also intends to exert “additional pressure on the government”, a few days before the presentation of an emergency bill for Mayotte, MP Thomas Ménage also underlined on franceinfo on Friday.
In this poorest department in France, plagued by strong migratory pressure particularly from the neighboring Comoros, the RN and its leader were acclaimed in the last presidential and legislative elections.
A less hostile reception than for Macron?
The flame party even obtained one of its first two parliamentary seats in Overseas last July. “Marine Le Pen is very popular in Mayotte”, where “the population is demanding her descent”, assures the Mayotte elected representative to the Assembly Anchya Bamana.
In any case, the reception promises to be less hostile than for the head of state, who was heckled during his visit, just a few days after the disaster. A attack that he then attributed to “people from the National Rally”.
But for others, Marine Le Pen's presence is at best a non-event. “I don't see what she can bring us at the moment,” judges Anfida, a 32-year-old care worker interviewed on Friday, when Abou, a 28-year-old TotalEnergies employee, considers that “all these politicians are coming for us bluff.”
