National Rally

National Rally
Rassemblement National
AbbreviationRN
PresidentJordan Bardella
Vice Presidents
Parliamentary party leaderMarine Le Pen (National Assembly)
FoundersJean-Marie Le Pen, Pierre Bousquet
Founded5 October 1972; 54 years ago (1972-10-05)
Preceded byOrdre Nouveau
Headquarters114 bis rue Michel-Ange
75016 Paris
Youth wingRassemblement national de la jeunesse
Security wingDepartment for Protection and Security
Membership (2025)120,000 (claimed)
Ideology
National conservatism
Political positionFar-rightA[›]
National affiliationRassemblement bleu Marine (2012–2017)
European affiliationPatriots.eu
European Parliament groupPatriots for Europe
(since 2024)
Colours  Navy blue
National Assembly
126 / 577
Senate
3 / 348
European Parliament
30 / 81
Presidencies of Regional Councils
0 / 17
Regional Councillors
242 / 1,758
Presidencies of Departmental Councils
0 / 101
Departmental Councillors
26 / 4,108
Website
rassemblementnational.fr Edit this at Wikidata
^ A: The RN is considered part of the radical right, a subset of the far-right which does not oppose democracy.

The National Rally (French: Rassemblement national or RN) is a far-right French political party. It used to be called the National Front until 2018.

The party is patriotic. The party is very Eurosceptic (meaning they are against the European Union) and wants to limit immigration. Marine Le Pen supports letting the government control health, education, transportation, banking and energy. Critics say that the ideology of the RN focuses on bad attitudes on immigrants.

History

The party was founded on 5 October 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen. The party was first called the National Front for French Unity (Front national pour l'unité française). Their most successful performance in the legislative elections was in 1997, where they received 14.9% of the vote in the 1st round and 5.7% in the 2nd round. Recently, they won the 2014 European Parliament election with 24.85% of the vote.

Only on three occasions has an FN / RN candidate advanced to the second round of the french presidential elections, Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002 and his daughter Marine Le Pen in 2017, (again in 2022). Jean-Marie Le Pen heavily lost the second round, as he only received 17.8% of the vote; Marine Le Pen also lost the second round, only receiving 33.9% of the vote.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was leader of the party from 1972 until 2011. In 2011, the party voted to make Marine Le Pen leader. She wanted to soften the party's image. Marine Le Pen expelled her father from the party in 2015 after he made some controversial statements. On 24 April 2017, a day after the first round of the 2017 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen stepped down from her position. Steeve Briois became the temporary leader. Le Pen then returned as leader after she lost the 2017 election. She resigned again in 2021 because she ran for president of France again in 2022. Jordan Bardella became acting leader and was then elected party president in 2022.

On 31 March 2025, 25 National Rally members (including Le Pen, former MEPs, and their assistants) were convicted of embezzlement for using European Parliament funds to fund National Rally staff. The sentences for several MEPs, including Le Pen, included bans on running for political office.

Party presidents

No President Term start Term end
1
Jean-Marie Le Pen		 5 October 1972 15 January 2011
Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the National Front for French Unity party in 1972 and contested the Presidency of France in 1974, 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2007. He served several terms as a deputy of the National Assembly of France and a Member of the European Parliament. He later served as the party's honorary president from January 2011 to August 2015. He died on 7 January 2025 at the age of 96.
2
Marine Le Pen		 15 January 2011 5 November 2022
Marine Le Pen took over as the president of the party in 2011 and contested the 2012, 2017 and 2022 French presidential elections. She served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017 and has served as a deputy of the National Assembly of France since 2017. Under her leadership, the party was renamed National Rally in 2018.
3
Jordan Bardella		 5 November 2022
Acting since 13 September 2021		 Incumbent
Jordan Bardella became acting president of the party after Marine Le Pen launched her presidential campaign in September 2021. He was elected president in November 2022.

Notes

  1. ↑ The party was formerly part of the European Right (1984–1989), the European Right (1989–1994), the Technical Group of Independents (1999–2001), Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (2007), Europe of Nations and Freedom (2015–2019) and Identity and Democracy (2019–2024).
  2. ↑ Other customary colours include the following:
      Black   Grey   Brown   Red

References

  1. ↑ Gatehouse, Gabriel (5 December 2015). "Vive la difference – has France's Front National changed?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  2. ↑ Corbet, Sylvie (3 July 2024). "Renowned Nazi hunter in France advises Jews to choose far right over far left in elections". AP News. The Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  3. ↑ Kirby, Paul (30 June 2024). "The rise and rise of France's far right". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "Le RN affirmé avoir 100,000 adhérents". 1 July 2024.
  5. ↑ "Le RN revendique 20.000 adhésions supplémentaires depuis la condamnation de Marine le Pen". 4 April 2025.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Garnier, Christophe-Cécil (7 December 2015). "Quelle doit être la couleur du Front national sur les cartes électorales?" (in French). Slate. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Ivaldi, Gilles (18 May 2016). "A new course for the French radical right? The Front National and "de-demonisation"". In Akkerman, Tjitske; de Lange, Sarah L.; Rooduijn, Matthijs (eds.). Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream?. Routledge. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-317-41978-5. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  10. ↑ Forchtner, Bernhard (September 2019). "Climate change and the far right". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. 10 (5) e604. Bibcode:2019WIRCC..10E.604F. doi:10.1002/wcc.604. S2CID 202196807.
  11. ↑ Forchtner, Bernhard (2020). The Far Right and the Environment: Politics, Discourse and Communication. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-10402-9. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Jens Rydgren (2008). "France: The Front National, Ethnonationalism and Populism". Twenty-First Century Populism. Link.springer.com. pp. 166–180. doi:10.1057/9780230592100_11. ISBN 978-1-349-28476-4. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  14. ↑ "Qu'est-ce qui fait échouer le Front de gauche ?". Marianne. 17 January 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  15. ↑ "Immigration | Stopper l'immigration, renforcer l'identité française". Front National. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  16. ↑ 1 August 2011, Russell (29 April 2011). "Marine Le Pen, France's (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ 15 November 2022 (14 November 2024). "Peut-on dire que le Rassemblement national est xénophobe?". Slate.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ "Vive la difference – has France's National Front changed?". bbc.com. 5 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "France in shock". Economist.com. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Marine Le Pen wins record victory for Front National in French elections". The Telegraph. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  21. ↑ "European election results 2014: Far-right parties flourish across Europe". Independent. 25 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  22. ↑ Aisch, Gregor; Bloch, Matthew; Lai, K. K. Rebecca; Morenne, Benoît (7 May 2017). "How France Voted". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "Marine Le Pen 'chosen to lead Frances National Front'". BBC News. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  24. ↑ "France's National Front picks Marine Le Pen as new head". BBC News. 16 January 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  25. ↑ "France National Front: Jean-Marie Le Pen suspended". bbc.com. 4 May 2015.
  26. ↑ "Jean-Marie Le Pen, exclu du Front national, fera "bien évidemment" un recours en justice". L'Express. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "Marine Le Pen temporarily steps down as Front National leader to concentrate on presidential bid". The Independent.
  28. ↑ Samuel, Henry (31 March 2025). "Marine Le Pen banned from politics". The Telegraph.
  29. ↑ "French Court bans far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running for office". France 24. 31 March 2025.
  30. ↑ "Jean-Marie Le Pen: French far-right leader dies aged 96". ITV News. 7 January 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  31. ↑ "Présidentielle 2022 : Marine Le Pen cède la tête du RN à Jordan Bardella et lance sa campagne". ici, par France Bleu et France 3 (in French). 12 September 2021.

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