C’is what’s called one hell of a timing mistake. A few days ago, tell Release, the National Rally (RN) massively printed a long eight-page leaflet, praising its program and the figure of its candidate, Marine Le Pen. the electoral document praises the international stature of Marine Le Pen, attaching four photos of the latter alongside major international personalities: there are Michel Aoun, President of Lebanon, Idriss Déby, former President of Chad now deceased, Janez Jansa, Prime Slovenian minister, and… Vladimir Putin. Marine Le Pen had actually gone to meet the Russian president in 2017, recalls the daily with the red diamond.
Five days after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian president, such a photo comes at a bad time for those who covet a place in the second round of a presidential election upset by such a crisis. So much so that, according to Release, the RN would have decided to withdraw the document as quickly as possible, ordering its local branches to “swing what they have left of leaflets in the dumpster, even if it means screwing up thousands of them”. However, the party leadership formally denies this information.
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“We do not deny ourselves”
“The document is still distributed by our activists”, assures David Rachline, vice-president of the RN contacted by the Huff Post. Especially since making it disappear would be wishful thinking: 1.2 million copies came out of the party’s presses, before being distributed throughout the country. As the Huff Post has been able to verify, the PDF version of the leaflet is still accessible on the official Marine Le Pen campaign website.
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The management of the RN, contacted by BFMTV, seems to assume the photo perfectly: “We do not deny our positions on international politics”, we explain from the HQ of the candidate. “In 2017, you had to work with Russia against the Islamic State. […] No major issue can be settled permanently without cooperation with at least the members of the Security Council, ”continues the entourage of Marine Le Pen. Since, specifies BFMTVthe latter also declared that the events in Ukraine had “partly changed her vision” of Vladimir Putin.