Jordan Bardella: 28-year-old 'captain' of France's far right

PARIS: Jordan Bardella, the far-right party leader who inflicted a stinging defeat on President Emmanuel Macron's alliance in European elections on Sunday (Jun 9), is a self-confident 28-year-old hailed by supporters as a political phenomenon but seen by detractors as lacking substance.

Bardella, raised in a single-parent home, officially became the leader of the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party aged just 27 in 2022, but boasting the communication skills of a much older politician.

The RN, with Bardella leading its list, scored double the number of votes of Macron's centrist alliance in the European Parliament elections - prompting Macron to announce on television that he was dissolving parliament and calling snap elections for June 30.

"France has given its verdict and there is no appeal," said Bardella, as he earlier urged Macron to call elections.

"Our compatriots have expressed a desire for change but also a path for the future," he told supporters, adding the result showed the "determination of our country for the European Union to change direction"."It is wind of hope and it is only the start," he said, describing Macron as a "weakened president".

"NOT AGAINST EUROPE"

Bardella took over the RN's leadership from Marine Le Pen, who has been trying to rid the party of the racist and anti-Semitic imprint left by her father and party co-founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Le Pen, who was runner-up in the last two presidential elections, has remained the party leader in parliament and is largely expected to run again in 2027.

But her charismatic successor, who has 1.2 million followers on TikTok, is proving to be a major asset in attracting an increasingly younger crowd to vote for the party. Le Pen has signalled he would be prime minister if she wins the Elysee in 2027. But there have been rumblings within the RN that the young upstart could make an even better candidate than his mentor.

Bardella's carefully curated story has added to smoothing the image of the RN, which Jean-Marie Le Pen once ran from a chateau in a rich town west of the capital.

The RN leader in 2022 shared details about his childhood on the eighth floor of a drab tower block in the crime-ridden Seine-Saint-Denis area northeast of Paris.

During the campaign Bardella was widely seen as having won a televised debate against the little-known head of Macron's party list, Valerie Hayer.

Apparently nervous about Hayer's capacities in the head-to-head format, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal then took on Bardella in a debate on May 23 and succeeded in putting the RN chief under considerable pressure over Europe.

Attal sought to paint Bardella as leading a party without substance that had no serious interest in Europe and a vision "of turning in on ourselves and the end of the European Union."

Bardella countered: "I am not against Europe. I am against the way Europe works now."

Eyeing a prominent role in Europe after the elections, Bardella has steered the RN away from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, saying it will no longer sit in the parliament with the faction after a succession of controversies.

"CAPTAIN, OH CAPTAIN"

Bardella's critics accuse him of spending too much time honing his public image, and not enough studying important political issues.

Far-left European lawmaker Manon Aubry has described him as a "ghost parliamentarian" for often failing to show up in the European chamber over the past five years.

And his rise has not been entirely free of controversy.

A French television report alleged in January that he used an anonymous Twitter account to share racist messages when he was a local elected official, claims he has vehemently denied.

One 2017 post from the "RepNat du Gaito" account includes an obscene image mocking Theo Luhaka, a young black man who suffered severe anal injuries from a police baton that year, the France 2 report said.

A French court in January gave three officers suspended jail sentences in the case, a rare one of police brutality to make it to court.

Bardella has not revolutionised the party's belief system, experts point out, but he is still giving his party a youthful vibe.

"Captain, oh captain, we need you to guide us," goes the soundtrack to his campaign post on TikTok.