She sat on the couch laughing. Marine Le Pen (53) had just been promised a guy – what exactly was her type? But no, answered the presidential candidate to the question of TV presenter Karine Le Marchand, she did not feel like it at all. If she is elected president of France on Sunday, only her Bengal cats will go to the Élysée.
It was a fascinating interview, at the end of 2021 on the commercial French channel M6. For the setting alone: for the first time, Marine Le Pen quite literally opened the doors to her private life. Walking through her garden – ‘Look, the first cherries’ – she told about her admiration for nature, the love for her animals, the friend from her childhood with whom she shares a household. There was also a video message from Le Pen’s mother Pierrette, who told how her youngest at home had always been ‘miss bonheur’. ‘I have the image of being strict, even tough’, Le Pen reacted from her sofa; but that would be because of the politics asking her to be harnessed. In my private life, the presidential candidate assured, “I hate conflict, altercations, raising of voices.”
During the election debate with President Macron on Wednesday evening, which attracted 15.6 million viewers, the voter was presented with this milder variant of Le Pen. Steadfast and calm, she parried her opponent’s fierce, at times aggressive fire of questions, not letting herself be bullied. Although she was cornered on many points and had a weak defence, according to the French media, she did not opt for the rash counterattack that had killed her in the previous debate with Macron, five years earlier. In this televised debate, she would have come across as more sincere to voters than Macron, who is known for being arrogant and self-righteous; according to the newspaper Le Monde he tried to choke her “like a boa constrictor” point by point.
Last shot at presidency
For years, Marine Le Pen was the armored woman the French voters saw in her, a firm politician who tried to exploit France’s discontent with provocative statements. But to win as many French as possible on her third and final run for the presidency, another ‘Navy’ was needed. An image in line with the mission that she has had for the party since she took over from her father Jean-Marie in 2011: stripped of the sharp edges, more accessible to all French people. †Dédiabolisation‘, Le Pen called it; she would demonize the party.
The personal interview at home was one weapon in a wide arsenal of resources. Pictures of her Bengal cats on Instagram are such a means, as are videos of Le Pen dancing in an Antillean rum bar or one of the countless pictures at village markets where she shakes the hand of this or that market trader – always encouraging herself with both hands. at the same time, always smiling and where possible with a hug. Even if the girl next to her in the photo is wearing a hijab – something Le Pen said he would forbid in public.
It’s an ambiguity at the root of her success in this election race, experts say. Her attempts to soften the image of herself and the party are both effective and cosmetic. Effective, because a growing supporter now characterizes her as calmer, more moderate, even presidential. But also cosmetically, because behind it lies a political program that has barely changed in content. Its grimiest sides are just less in the spotlight.
Since the campaign’s inception, Le Pen has portrayed herself as the purchasing power candidate, the woman who would “give ordinary French people their money back.” Instead of organizing mass political rallies in event halls, as her opponents did, she bet on an endless series of meetings with ‘the people’. At farmers’ markets, retirement homes and construction sites across France, she spoke to citizens about their primary concern: the increased cost of living. A theme that has been a major concern of the French for some time, but which has made the war in Ukraine all the more urgent.
And then there was the far-right newcomer Eric Zemmour, who made the extreme sides of Le Pen pale with his hard-hitting statements.
Priority for born French
Le Pen’s program nevertheless states that she wants to amend the constitution to give French-born priority to social housing, benefits and work – a proposal that violates European and French rights to equal treatment. Newcomers must find it more difficult to obtain French nationality, children born in France and raised with non-French parents will no longer automatically be French.
In the field of asylum, Le Pen wants to allow family reunification only in very exceptional cases, significantly reduce the number of residence permits and only handle asylum applications outside the European Union. And although she has let go of her idea of a Frexit, Le Pen wants to put French law above European laws and regulations.
Although Le Pen does not embrace the stamp of the far-right – in the past she has wanted to prosecute anyone who called her party that – French experts still see her program as far-right.
According to the French media, she was unable to win the debate. Macron was too professional for that and beat her on file knowledge. She has according to Le Monde didn’t make it the game changer she needed to catch up with Macron. She did, however, show ‘a proper performance’, ‘she did not make a fool of herself’, writes Liberation thrifty. The paper finds that Le Pen appeared ‘confused and inaccurate at times’, but looked more sincere than Macron, who appeared self-righteous, condescending and at times arrogant – his long-standing weak point.
Sunday will show how many votes her new image, her cats and her apparent sincerity will get Marine Le Pen.