Today President of the National RallyJordan Bardella has managed to climb the ranks over the last ten years. It was in 2012, at the age of 17, that the future politician joined the National Front. Only two years later, Marine Le Pen’s protégé became departmental secretary of the FN in Seine-Saint-Denis, making him the youngest departmental leader of the party. In 2016, he was put in charge of the suburbs issue, with the collective “patriotic suburbs”. “Choose your suburb”could be read on the campaign posters.
Jordan Bardella’s former girlfriends
And it was Kelly Betesh, Jordan Bardella’s ex-partner, who lent her face to the poster. She is also a far-right activist and a midwife. In 2014, The young woman made people talk about her. While an evening bringing together young Frontists and young people from the former UMP was being organized, the activist had sparked a controversy by distributing photos of the evening, during which Florian Philippot made an appearance to wish everyone a happy new year. Kelly Betesh had then joined the union as head of the Paris V University section.
The young activist faced another controversy the following year. The Europe 1 Lab had shared a series of messages that she published on Twitter. Then aged 20, the young woman responded to a message from iTele who mentioned the number of HIV-positive women in France. The woman who was preparing for her medical exam describes AIDS as “The scam of the century”. And in response to an Internet user who asked her to explain her point, she simply replied: “AIDS does not exist.”
A wave of hatred
Kelly Betesh was then faced with a huge wave of criticism. She quickly deleted the messages and defended herself: “I am tired of this unfair media lynching. The tweet in question is over a year old, it was cut in an unhealthy way. I made my mea culpa for these stupid remarks. I wanted to explain that there are inconsistencies in the screening methods, that in one country, you can be declared HIV positive and in another not. I wrote too quickly. This does not represent my thoughts..”
The far-right activist and the president of the National Rally are no longer a couple today. After his relationship with Kelly Betesh, Jordan Bardella was in a relationship with Kerridwen Chatillon, from the GUD universe and daughter of Frédéric Chatillon, from 2017 to 2018. And since 2020, he has been maintaining a relationship with Nolwenn Olivierthe daughter of Marie-Caroline Le Pen, older sister of Marine Le Pen, and Philippe Olivier.
The Rise of Jordan Bardella
Jordan Bardella has often been accused of being favored within the National Rally because of his closeness to the Le Pen family. While some believe that his partner played a role in his meteoric rise within the far-right party, he calls these criticisms“ignoble”. “Marine Le Pen chose me as the top candidate when I was single”he defended himself. Indeed, the 28-year-old has climbed the ranks within the party since he joined it in 2012.
From simple member to president
On September 21, 2017, after Florian Philippot resigned from the FN, Marine Le Pen appointed Jordan Bardella as spokesperson for the National Front. On June 16, 2019, he became second vice-president of the RN and joined the party’s executive board, before being appointed first vice-president in July 2021. In August 2022, he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the National Rally, against the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot. In November 2022, Jordan Bardella was elected, and appointed president of the RNwith 84.8% of the 26,000 votes cast. He then became the first president of the RN who was not part of the Le Pen family since the party was created fifty years earlier.
Sources: Le Figaro, Wikipedia, Marianne, Le Parisien
