Far-Right French Leader Jordan Bardella’s Surprising North African Roots Revealed

Born on September 13, 1995 in Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis), to two parents of Italian origin, Jordan Bardella also has Maghrebi origins. Something he doesn’t usually talk about, especially when he emphasizes his Italian origins to illustrate the model of assimilation he advocates. Mohand Segir Mada, his maternal great-grandfather, was a Kabyle, recalls Jeune Afrique in an exclusive investigation titled: "After Algeria, Morocco: new revelations about Jordan Bardella’s ties to the Maghreb." He had come to France in the 1930s to work as a laborer in the construction industry in Villeurbanne. According to the investigation, the paternal grandfather of the president of the Rassemblement national (RN) lives in Morocco. His name is Guerrino Bardella. He is an Italian born in 1944 in Avito, in Latium, who arrived in France in Montreuil in 1960. Three years later, he married Réjane Mada, daughter of Mohand Séghir Mada, with whom he had a son, Olivier Bardella, born in 1968, the father of Jordan Bardella.

Divorced from the mother of his son, Guerrino Bardella embarks on a new adventure. Destination: Morocco. He thinks about getting married. As required by Moroccan law for marriages between Moroccan citizens and non-Muslim foreigners, he converts to Islam before remarrying a Moroccan woman named Hakima. At 80 years old, Guerrino leads a peaceful life in Casablanca, in the Bourgogne district. A famous carpenter-cabinetmaker, he works mainly for expatriates and the Moroccan bourgeoisie. Well integrated into the Italian community of Casablanca, he frequents the restaurant of the Italian circle "Chez Massimo". The octogenarian’s last residence permit was issued in 2016 by the Moroccan authorities with the status of "family reunification" for a period of 10 years, the pan-African magazine also reveals.

Will this investigation by "Jeune Afrique" have an impact on the choice of voters in the early legislative elections, the first round of which is this Sunday, June 30? According to the latest polls, the RN is largely ahead of the voting intentions ahead of the New Popular Front. Will Jordan Bardella be at Matignon in mid-July?