Le Pen sends in ex-policeman involved in corruption scandal to clean up Toulon
Sébastien Soulé clutches RN flyers as he heads into the town to talk to constituents - Bruno FERT
An ex-policeman involved in a police corruption scandal that inspired a cult film is running in the southern Riviera town of Toulon for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in next Sunday’s legislative elections.
Run since 2022 by a Right-wing MP backed by president Emmanuel Macron’s party, Toulon is the only constituency out of eight in the Var region that has not yet been run by the RN.
Many residents of the town, whose naval port – Europe’s largest – often shelters France’s lone nuclear aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, say they still remember the “catastrophic” six-year period when Toulon was “mismanaged” by the Front National, the RN’s predecessor, and are loath to return to such “dark days”.
However, the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic party has the wind in its sails after trouncing Mr Macron’s party in European elections and is on course to obtain the largest number of seats in snap parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7.
Residents in the naval port town – Europe's largest – say they still remember the 'catastrophic' FN years - Bruno FERT
Ms Le Pen’s party has placed its hopes of clinching the Var’s last pro-Macron bastion on Sébastien Soulé, 46, a former officer in the anti-criminal brigade, BAC, who operated for decades in Marseille’s crime-infested Quartiers Nord suburbs, notorious for drug war murders.
Mr Soulé was among a group of police officers accused of extorting drugs and cash from the criminal underworld and stashing some of it in the ceiling of their police station in a 2012 corruption scandal.
His story inspired the hit 2020 film Bac Nord (The Stronghold), which detailed the gritty reality of policing a violent banlieue and his arrest by the police’s internal affairs body for bending the law in the pursuit of justice.
He spent two and a half months behind bars and was finally acquitted in 2021. He said his ordeal had “forged” his desire to get involved in hands-on politics to counter politicians who offer “punchlines” but “change nothing on the ground”.
Mr Soulé says he believes RN has the keys to crack down on crime - Bruno FERT
Crime has become a primary concern for voters after riots last year and a spate of killings in recent months. A hard-hitting report by the French senate on drug trafficking released last month warned that France was “submerged” by drug dealing and that Mr Macron’s response was inadequate.
Mr Soulé says he believes RN has the keys to crack down on crime.
“We’ve reached a state where French society lacks security. There is a lot of crime. We need to restore order. That’s the top priority if the economy and everything else is to function properly,” he told The Telegraph from his headquarters in downtown Toulon.
“People think the film is over the top. I can tell you if anything it doesn’t go far enough. They think that such crime and violence stops in Marseille but there are no frontiers anymore.”
The RN recently got into a row with the head of the national gendarmerie over a poster showing an officer with the headline “I’m a gendarme, I vote Bardella”.
Former navy officer Yannick Chenevard says he doesn't believe Toulon will 'succumb to the sirens of the far-Right this year' - Bruno FERT
The chief complained the poster violated the force’s neutrality. Polls suggest that many police officers vote for Ms Le Pen.
But Mr Soulé is an unknown in Toulon and is up against a formidable incumbent: Yannick Chenevard, 64, a former navy officer who oversaw the country’s naval spending plans and sat on its top intelligence committee.
“Toulon in 2022 did not succumb to the sirens of the far-Right and Toulon will not succumb to the sirens of the far-Right this year,” he confidently predicted.
Mr Chenevard was long deputy to Hugo Falco, the town’s popular Right-wing mayor who took over from the Front National in 2001 and ran it with an iron fist for 20 years.
“This city was managed from 1995 to 2001 by the extreme Right and it was a disaster. So much so that the following municipal election, the Front National didn’t even make it past the first round,” he told The Telegraph.
Perfume stall owner Mohammed Hagg questioned why the RN 'parachuted the policeman here? He isn't squeaky clean' - Bruno FERT
“It took us 12 years to turn this city around. They left it in a pitiful state steeped €200 million in debt and an explosion in municipal staff”, which he said amounted to jobs for cronies.
“I’m afraid the same thing will happen at national level; after a few weeks of euphoria, things aren’t going to work out for the RN and it will end in a hangover like the one Nigel Farage had after Brexit.
“Here in France, the RN will likely take power. And when their plan doesn’t work, they’re going to look for someone to blame: judges, the constitution which they will demand to change.
“The other thing that worries me is that the very people who voted the most for the RN are the ones who are going to suffer the most due to populist promises, such as retirement at 60, which they know deep down is unaffordable.”
“So I’m concerned for Toulon, which we’ve rehabilitated, but also concerned for France.”
Gallery owner Marc Negral, 71, said the FN 'was a catastrophe for this town, above all for a man of culture like me' - Bruno FERT
However, there is a chink in his “clean-hands” narrative as the former mayor he deputised, Mr Falco, 77, was in May convicted of abuse of funds in what has become known as “the fridge affair”. He was found guilty of making use of the town hall’s facilities to pay for free meals at the taxpayers’ expense while his wife used its laundry services. He is appealing the verdict, which bars him from elected office.
At the Cours Lafayette market in central Toulon, residents were well aware of the legislative stakes.
“I’ll be voting Soulé,” said Marie, 75, a former university canteen worker. “I love France and will vote for the candidate who will defend it the most in terms of insecurity and immigration because, for the past 40 years, it’s got worse and worse.”
Pizza vendor Angele Selline said she'll be voting for Chenevard because 'he knows his town' - Bruno FERT
Patrick, 70, said: “I’ll be voting for RN. Macron promised the earth. He understood that crime and immigration were out of control but didn’t do the necessary. Give RN the controls and we’ll see.”
But many said they are loathed to give RN the keys to the constituency.
“The FN was a catastrophe for this town, above all for a man of culture like me,” said Marc Negral, 71, who runs the Humilité art gallery. “All they wanted were Provençal folk dances.”
Mohammed Haggi, 38, who mans a perfume stall with his two brothers at the market, said: “We know and like Chenevard. Why did they parachute the policeman here? He isn’t squeaky clean.
“Perhaps there are issues in sensitive neighbourhoods but this isn’t Marseille! For me, it’s a publicity stunt for old voters who, let’s face it, are in the majority on the Cote d’Azur and are obsessed with law and order.
“They watch the TV all day and are brainwashed by rolling news channels like CNews that talk endlessly about insecurity and immigration.”
Erick Fraysse, 68, an insurance courtier thinks 'this time, Toulon could fall' - Bruno FERT
Angele Selline, 74, a pizza vendor, sang ex-mayor Falco’s praises. “He did loads of things for this town - built universities, hospitals, the Halles covered market - and was brought down by a fridge. It’s ridiculous. I’ll be voting for Chenevard. He knows his town. I’ve never heard of the other guy.”
But others thought the tide could turn given the RN’s dynamic and the Falco verdict.
“Falco was the rampart against RN. His conviction has thrown everything up in the air. Now RN scents an opportunity to wrest this final town in the region,” said Erick Fraysse, 68, an insurance courtier.
“This time, Toulon could fall.”
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