At just 28 years old, Jordan Bardella has helped make the far-right National Rally the strongest political force in France.
FILE - Jordan Bardella far-right National Rally leader for the upcoming election speaks to the media as he visits a farm in Chuelles, 137 kms south of Paris, Friday, June 14, 2024. At just 28 years old, Jordan Bardella has led the French far right to a landslide victory in the European Parliament election in June.
His selection marked a symbolic changing of the guard. It was part of Le Pen’s decade-long effort to rebrand her party, with its history of racism, and remove the stigma of antisemitism that clung to it in order to broaden its base. She has notably distanced herself from her now-ostracized father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the party, then called the National Front, and who has been repeatedly convicted of hate speech.
“Jordan Bardella is the creation of Marine Le Pen,” said Cécile Alduy, a Stanford University professor of French politics and literature, and an expert on the far right. “He has been made by her and is extremely loyal.” Although Bardella attended a semi-private Catholic school and his father was fairly well-off, party-sanctioned accounts have stressed his upbringing in a rundown housing project beset by poverty and drugs. Never having finished university, Bardella’s relatively modest background set him apart from the establishment.
When Macron did just that, Bardella, often wearing a suit and tie, hit the campaign trail, toning down his popstar image to seem more statesman-like despite his lack of experience in government.
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