French far-right targets biggest prize yet in border city
By Elizabeth Pineau
PERPIGNAN, France, March 12 (Reuters) - In late January, police in the French city of Perpignan carried out a random spot-check on a store in the town's run-down Bas-Varnet neighbourhood. They found the owner smoking cannabis in a back room, a stash of cash and cocaine hidden in tin cans.
Drug-related crime and high unemployment have made the town, on the French border with Spain, fertile ground for the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) in France's mayoral elections this weekend.
"People complain about the lack of security in the town's streets and squares, particularly after dark," said Louis Aliot, the far-right candidate for mayor of Perpignan. "We need more police on the streets to reassure citizens," he told Reuters.
The 50-year-old former partner of party leader Marine Le Pen has made law and order the cornerstone of his campaign to wrest control of Perpignan's town hall from the decades-long grip of the centre-right. Opinion polls show he is favourite to win.
He is promising more police on patrol at night, a camera surveillance system that uses artificial intelligence to spot suspect behaviour, and a crackdown on drug pushers.
If Aliot is successful, Perpignan and its 122,000 people will become the largest town run by the French far-right.
Nationally, Le Pen's Rassemblement National could win 30-50 local councils compared with the current 11 it holds, analysts predict.
It is a tiny share of France's 35,000 municipalities. But running a town like Perpignan might help Le Pen convince voters the populist party, widely viewed as racist and xenophobic under previous leadership, can be trusted in power.
"We need to prove to local populations that we're capable of running a local area, and why not tomorrow the country," said Aliot, who also talks of the need to reboot the local economy.
Le Pen is likely to be the main challenger to President Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential election.
Unemployment in Perpignan is at 14 percent, eight points above the national average, and one in three people live in poverty, according to official figures.
In Perpignan's Cassanyes market, which abuts the historic Saint-Jacques quarter where rubbish litters the graffiti-filled streets, second-hand clothes sell for as little as 1 euro.
One pensioner lamented how local stores had been driven off by out-of-town shopping malls, echoing a common refrain of the "yellow vest" protesters whose months-long revolt badly shook Macron's authority.
"It's a shame to see streets in the town centre a little empty of businesses," said the retiree, who identified himself as Charles. (Editing by Richard Lough and Christian Lowe)
