For months, he has been a stone in the shoe of the Republicans (LR) party. The far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour is a political object whose LR executives do not know what to do with: sometimes worried by the weight he could take in this election, but other times also delighted by his presence who could weaken in the first round the candidate of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen.
The question of the strategy to be adopted by the candidate of the right, Valérie Pécresse, in the face of this adversary of a new kind – a former columnist, experienced in the mysteries of the classic right that he has covered for years, and friend of some members of the party – arose with all the more acuity following the rallying of the former number two of LR, the deputy of Loir-et-Cher Guillaume Peltier.
“Step”
A first weight gain at LR for Mr. Zemmour who continues to proclaim in front of his electorate and elected officials that he is the successor to the RPR. A proof also for many that bridges exist as well for elected officials as for LR voters, some of whom are attracted by the theses of the far-right candidate.
While continuing to fear its possible breakthrough, part of the right believes, however, in private, that the maintenance of Eric Zemmour above a certain threshold could prove very useful to allow Valérie Pécresse to pass to the second tower. By nibbling the electorate of Mme Le Pen, the former chronicler of Figaro could open a breach. “It is true that Eric Zemmour lowers the qualification threshold which is currently at the level of the 2002 presidential election”, remarks Frédéric Dabi, managing director of the IFOP polling institute.
In recent days, the RN has even relayed the rumor that the right could help the polemicist in his quest for sponsorships. Invited on BFM-TV-RMC against Jean-Jacques Bourdin, Wednesday January 12, Marine Le Pen accused Mme Please be “The majority shareholder” of an Eric Zemmour who would serve as his “Step”. The entourage of the candidate LR hastened to sweep these statements. “It’s a farce put on by Zemmour. We are not doing it, if we had done it would have been seen ”, gets carried away Aurélien Pradié, deputy of Lot and spokesperson for Mr.me Pécresse.
LR plays the credibility card
Beyond the issue of signatures, the prospect of a wild primary capable of neutralizing one or the other of the two far-right candidates is therefore viewed favorably by some within LR. Especially, they think, that voters close to the right could return to the fold during a possible between-two-rounds. So, in order to convince them, it will be necessary to insist on sovereign issues until the last minute. What Valérie Pécresse is already working on doing, who has made security a central theme of her entry into the countryside, unearthing, for example, expressions such as “Kärcher” employed by Nicolas Sarkozy in his time. Or by proposing measures such as aggravated sentences for an offense committed in a sensitive neighborhood. In this regard, the presence of the very right-handed deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, Eric Ciotti, in the device is perceived by many as a bulwark slowing down the defection of voters to the far right but also attracting them.
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