Who is Éric Zemmour and why should Emmanuel Macron be wary of him?
The far-right journalist has launched his own presidential campaign for the 2022 French Elections, leading the Reconquête (Reconquest) Party; the polls show that so far, he is in a good position.
Éric Zemmour, 63, to the English reader, is probably relatively unknown, yet he is dominating news across the Channel, and could soon become a household name. Dubbed “The French Trump”, the controversial journalist, who has worked for several of France’s leading media outlets, has gained a cult-like following from vast numbers of French citizens thanks to his questionable views on immigration and Islam. Such views have landed him in some hot water, most notably on the receiving end of fines for inciting hate against Muslims. Nevertheless, France’s fundamental value of freedom of speech has allowed the polemist to continue to spread his beliefs to the extent that he is now powerful enough to launch his own political party and stand for French Presidency. According to opinion polls in November 2021, he is in a position to get to the second round of the French elections.
But who is Zemmour? Ironically, the anti-immigration provocateur is the son of two Algerian Jews, and is married to a lawyer of Tunisian descent. After having graduated from one of France’s most prestigious higher education establishments, Sciences-Po in Paris, he began his career as a political correspondent working for an array of publications. He regularly appeared on French TV and radio as a prominent far-right pundit, and has openly endorsed the Great Replacement Theory, pioneered by controversial French author Renaud Camus, essentially implying that one day the French population will cease to exist because of an overflow of immigrants.
Zemmour’s attacks are not confined to illegal immigrants, but also economic migrants who live in France legally. He has gone on the record referring to the migrant situation in France as a “demographic tsunami”. The Presidential candidate has also claimed that France has been in a state of decline since the 1970’s, and attributes this to immigration, left-wing politics and France’s neglect of traditional values. He also openly criticizes homosexuality and feminism, and attributes France’s decline to the “feminisation of French society”.
A far-right, anti-immigration politician has never been far away from the limelight in the French political sphere. In the 2017 General Elections, Marine Le Pen successfully led her Front National party to the second round of voting. Under the French electoral system, there are two different votes. Firstly, voters select their preferred candidate from a large list of politicians representing various parties and ideologies. The two most popular politicians then go head to head for the presidency following a second round of voting.
In the second round of the last election, Le Pen suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of President Emmanuel Macron. Nevertheless, it was a warning sign that the far-right was gaining traction in France, as it was the first time in many years that the second round had not been a choice between the left and the right. Left-wingers were having to opt for the centrist Macron in order to save France from the grasp of a hard-line far-righter.
Ahead of next year’s General Elections, there is concern amongst the various political wings of the French public and within the political system that Zemmour and Le Pen could join forces to form their own hard-line far-right party. This party could threaten to majorly disrupt Macron’s re-election campaign. Reports estimate that a Le Pen and Zemmour coalition could account for over a third of France’s entire electorate. If Zemmour got through to the second round of voting, it is likely that Le Pen’s followers would then vote for him, as ideologically, the two align.
In 2017, Le Pen tactically targeted left-wing voters as well as those traditionally affiliated with the far-right- she believed that reaching out to all members of the working class would be her ticket to the Presidential palace. This tactic, however, was ineffective because there is a general distaste for politics amongst the working classes, who generally abstain from voting as a result of this. The London School of Economics released a report on abstention in the 2017 elections and the results are telling. In the banlieues, or suburbs, the most economically deprived areas in France, where unemployment rates rocket above the national average, abstentions in the first round passed the 50% mark for the first time ever. It is estimated that this figure could be even higher this time around
Nevertheless, Zemmour strives to build Le Pen’s effort. He is aiming to appeal to the working classes, who have voted for Le Pen in the past, but who have also suffered as a result of many of Macron’s reforms and general political neglect toward them. Though Macron has brought the unemployment rate down since the start of his presidency, at 8.1% the rate is still above the European average. Though ideologically ‘centrist’, many French citizens have been disgruntled by his policies and consider him to be a “president of the rich” due to a decision he made to cut a wealth tax, as well as his business-centred economic reform. He had also been due to introduce a controversial pension reform, although he decided to postpone this move with the emergence of the pandemic. French citizens may now reject Macron’s liberal politics and divert their vote to more radical ideologies, both on the left and the right. Jean-Luc Mélenchon is France’s radical left-wing candidate, and although he has acquired a loyal following over the years, in the opinion polls so far, Zemmour is leading. In addition to the angry working class however, Zemmour is also appealing to the patriotic and conservative bourgeoisie who share his vision of an ideal France – the one pioneered by Napoleon Bonaparte and Second World War resistance hero Charles De Gaulle.
Robert Ménard, a political ally of Le Pen’s party and close friend of Zemmour, has said that Zemmour cannot win without Le Pen, and Le Pen cannot win without Zemmour. He can, however, see a cross-party alliance as a genuine way for a far-right presidential victory for the first time ever.
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