The far-right candidate intends to hunt as much on the lands of the Republicans (LR) as on those of the National Rally (RN). During a meeting held in front of more than three thousand people in Saulieu (Côte-d’Or), Saturday February 12, Eric Zemmour virulently attacked his rival Valérie Pécresse, arguing that his “center right will not be better than the center left of Emmanuel Macron”. The leader of Reconquest! thus urged right-wing voters to make the right choice in the first round, “between saving the LRs or saving the nation”, and methodically went after Mme Pécresse, portrayed as a spendthrift centrist technocrat.
According to the fifth wave of the Ipsos-Sopra Steria survey conducted in partnership with the Sciences Po Center for Political Research (Cevipof) and the Jean Jaurès Foundation for The world, candidate LR (15.5%), that of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen (15%) and Mr. Zemmour (14.5%) are in a pocket handkerchief for accession to the second round against to the outgoing President, Emmanuel Macron. The challenge for the far-right candidate is therefore to divert as many voters as possible from his two rivals, less than two months before the first round of the presidential election.
His attacks against candidate LR are not the result of chance: Mme Pécresse holds its first major campaign meeting on Sunday. Planned at the Zénith de Paris, the rally aims to relaunch the candidate, who is struggling to convince on the ground. She is also the subject of internal criticism for her supposed lack of dynamism and incarnation.
His party has been affected in recent days by cascading defections in favor of Mr. Macron – Eric Woerth, Natacha Bouchart and Nora Berra (ex-LR, former Secretary of State for Nicolas Sarkozy) announced this week to support the head of the state for re-election next April. In January, it was the rallying to Mr. Zemmour of the then number two in the party, Guillaume Peltier, who had shaken his political family. Weakened, Mme Pécresse is therefore a priority target for the far-right candidate.
Targeted attacks on its economic and social program
To mark his differences with candidate LR, Mr. Zemmour attacked his economic and social program on Saturday, estimating, for example, that increasing low wages by 10% – a proposal to which the candidate returned – would be a “Left measure par excellence! “. ” What are the consequences ? A drop in hiring, therefore an increase in unemployment, therefore an increase in taxes, therefore a drop in purchasing power. It’s a quadruple penalty.” he scoffed.
Regarding the objective of building 500,000 housing units per year set by the current president of the Ile-de-France region in order to promote home ownership, this would lead, on the contrary, according to Mr Zemmour, to “cover the country with social housing” and to do “from each village a “9-3” miniature »pejorative reference to the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. “No, Valérie Pécresse is not on the right”thus affirmed the former polemicist, also denouncing the immigration policy of the candidate, whose name was booed at that time by the public.
“With Valérie Pécresse, you won’t have Zemmour, thus alerted the candidate. VYou won’t even get half a Zemmour. You will have a mask plastered over the face of technocracy. » Comparing “center right” of Mme Pecresse at “center left” of the President of the Republic, whom he qualifies as candidates “mirrors”he added about them: “It will be the same cowardice, the same zigzags, the same hypocrisy, the same abandonment of all principles. »
During his meeting, focused on rurality, the candidate also presented his measures on this subject, from the “birth scholarship” of 10,000 euros paid to “every rural family for the birth of a new child” to security, including “Reinstatement of the National Forest Fund”, created in 1946 and discontinued in 2000.