Jean-Luc Mélenchon facing Eric Zemmour, again. This Thursday, the two men debate live on C8 in “Face à Baba”, a new sensationalist campaign moment on Vincent Bolloré’s channel.
The essential
- New strong sequence of the presidential campaign this Thursday. During his appearance on the program “Face à Baba” on C8, presented by Cyril Hanouna, Jean-Luc Mélenchon debates with eight people, including Eric Zemmour.
- The two presidential candidates had already clashed on set, in September, during a debate of more than two hours on BFM TV.
- This direct exchange between Eric Zemmour and Jean-Luc Mélenchon comes at a pivotal moment in the presidential 2022, after two outstanding meetings of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and while the campaign is accelerating. The show begins with questions asked by Cyril Hanouna. Then come the eight guests. Eric Zemmour is the first to speak.
The live broadcast
8:31 p.m. – The exchange between Zemmour and Mélenchon on C8 should start around 9:30 p.m.
Eric Zemmour will be invited to interview Jean-Luc Mélenchon around 9:30 p.m. on C8 this evening. Indeed, the program “Face à Baba” must begin at 9:15 p.m. with several questions asked by the presenter Cyril Hanouna to the candidate La France Insoumise. After this first sequence, eight guests will follow one another to question Jean-Luc Mélenchon. On Twitter, Cyril Hanouna announced that Eric Zemmour will be the first speaker.
19:39 – Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused to debate with Jordan Bardella this evening
This evening, Jean-Luc Mélenchon could have exchanged live with the acting president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella. The interested party allowed himself to be moved by it on his Twitter account: “I regret that Jean-Luc Mélenchon has deflated […]. We could have debated his relationship to France and the Islamo-leftist drift of his party. Feverish for a revolutionary!”, He wrote. The entourage of the candidate of La France Insoumise in the presidential election said that Jean-Luc Mélenchon was debating with “the candidates”, and that he would have liked to debate with Marine Le Pen.
19:14 – Cyril Hanouna already an actor in this presidential election
The C8 host managed to create a new program format in this presidential election campaign, which the French were not used to: it is clear that “Face à Baba” breaks the traditional codes of the political program by daring show debate sequences. And the audiences for the first show with Eric Zemmour were already very good. The tone is that of entertainment, assumed, with the ambition of inserting politics into programs designed for the general public or an audience looking for entertainment. Whatever one thinks, this translates well the tendency to break down all the dikes that separated, until recently, the time of political debate from that of the spectacle. Jean-Luc Mélenchon rubs shoulders with it without too much reluctance, convinced that he touches many people who are disinterested in politics at Cyril Hanouna; Eric Zemmour is a media animal, certain of being able to score points in any television show.
6:37 p.m. – Jean-Luc Mélenchon “is not afraid of the debate” welcomes Zemmour
There will therefore be a return match between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour, a round 2 skilfully prepared by Cyril Hanouna, talk show host turned political debate organizer. This new face-to-face, Eric Zemmour welcomes it. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon has at least one quality: he is not afraid of the debate of ideas, unlike so many of his fellow politicians”, he wrote on Twitter, tackling Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen who did not wish to do so. participate, or even Anne Hidalgo who refuses to debate with him.
18:03 – What do the latest polls say about Jean-Luc Mélenchon?
The various polling institutes give quite disparate results concerning Jean-Luc Mélenchon, although all agree on one point: the LFI candidate would arrive in fifth position behind Emmanuel Macron, the right and the far right. But what would his score be? Surveys of voting intentions in the first round credit him with between 9 and 13% of the vote. However, it would be far from its 2017 score: 19.58%.
17:34 – The debate against Zemmour, “a wish of Mélenchon”
Asked about CNews (channel of the Canal group to which C8 belongs) by Pascal Praud, Cyril Hanouna explained how the idea of a new debate between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour germinated: “we said to ourselves why not put Eric Zemmour for the first face-to-face. It was also a wish of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He wanted to debate again with Eric Zemmour. Jean-Luc Mélenchon also wanted to debate with Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen “.
17:07 – Jean-Luc Mélenchon, “no longer a good client”?
Has Jean-Luc Mélenchon been robbed of the public speaking star by Eric Zemmour? Known to be a tribune, the presidential candidate no longer attracts crowds as in 2017 and his oratory skills are no longer surprising. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon is no longer a good client since we know him by heart. He always repeats the same thing in the same tone”, comments Isabelle Veyrat-Masson, media sociologist and director of research at the CNRS with the Figaro. Renewal then requires innovation. “As he is aware of the weariness with regard to his candidacy, he makes his meetings shows. He must innovate on the form”, abounds this specialist, in reference to the olfactory meeting organized in Nantes. His coming on the set of a show far from traditional during the campaign period will it be a winning bet?
4:32 p.m. – Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen refused to intervene
According to Cyril Hanouna, Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen were asked to come and interview Jean-Luc Mélenchon this Thursday evening. But the host was met with a dismissal from the two candidates, he explained, specifying that they will still participate in the show as main guests.
16:03 – Which audience had the first “Face à Baba”?
On December 16, the first program “Face à Baba” attracted an average of 2.21 million people, or 10.5% of the audience share. According to C8, it was a record audience for a prime time broadcast on TNT.
15:43 – What had Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour debated in September?
During the first debate between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour, tensions were high and there were many disagreements. Between the two men, the points of agreement are not legion, even non-existent, if it is not on NATO. “I think we should get out of this military alliance so that France fully recovers its independence” had launched Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to which Eric Zemmour had replied: “I completely agree with the beginning of what ‘said Monsieur Mélenchon. On the other hand, on immigration, insecurity or even nuclear power, the visions were diametrically opposed.
15:08 – At what time will the debate between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour take place?
C8 did not indicate the exact time at which Eric Zemmour will be invited to question Jean-Luc Mélenchon. This should take place around 9:30 p.m. Indeed, the program should start at 9:15 p.m. with a series of questions asked by Cyril Hanouna to the LFI candidate, who will then be alone on set. Following this first part, the eight guests will follow one another in turn. But Cyril Hanouna has already announced that Eric Zemmour would be the first speaker.
14:57 – Jean-Luc Mélenchon facing Eric Zemmour in “Face à Baba”
The extreme right to start, the extreme left to continue. After receiving Eric Zemmour to launch his new program around the presidential election, “Face à Baba”, Cyril Hanouna receives Jean-Luc Mélenchon this Thursday, January 27, 2022. The LFI candidate will answer the host’s questions and then be questioned by ten speakers, five supporters and five opponents, including… Eric Zemmour.
Learn more
A new debate between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour. As in September when the pretender to the Elysée and the then almost-candidate met on the set of BFM TV for a debate of just over two hours, the two candidates for the presidential election will face each other again, Thursday, January 27, 2022. This time, there is no question of an ideological battle only between these two aspirants to the Palace. The exchange between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Zemmour is part of the C8 program “Face à Baba”, presented by Cyril Hanouna, which invites applicants for the highest office to debate with five opponents and exchange with five supporters. An exercise to which Eric Zemmour had complied in mid-December, resulting in clashes, as with Aymeric Caron. The exchange between the deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône and the essayist should only last about ten minutes.
The polemicist will not be the only one to exchange with the leader of the Insoumis. The final list has not been revealed but Jean-Luc Mélenchon will face, at least, Eric Zemmour, but also Charles Consigny, flagship columnist of the Grandes gueules on RMC and new support for Valérie Pécresse, but also Aymeric Caron, anti-species activist who joined the LFI candidate recently.
The large number of left-wing candidates in the presidential race prevents Jean-Luc Mélenchon from breaking through in the polls. All the barometers all the same agree that the Insoumis is the left-wing candidate collecting the most voting intentions with scores between 9 and 11%. Find here the latest polls grouped in the Linternaute compiler.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon began in politics by actively campaigning within student unions and then in 1977, by joining the Socialist Party. In 1983, he became involved in local politics, elected municipal councilor of Massy then general councilor of Essonne. Senator for Essonne in 1986, he was re-elected in office until 2010. In 1989, he served as deputy mayor of the town of Massy. Vice-president of the General Council of Essonne in 1998, he was appointed Minister Delegate for Vocational Education two years later. From 2009 to 2017, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was MEP for the South-West constituency and co-president of the national office of the Left Party. Since June 2017, he has been elected to the National Assembly, deputy for the 4th district of Bouches-du-Rhône and president of the LFI group.
Figure of the left of the PS for years, Jean-Luc Mélenchon slams the door of the party in 2008, after the deleterious congress of Reims. Founder, president then co-president of the national office of the Left Party in 2000, he was elected MEP in the South-West constituency the same year. He tried for a while to rally the Communist Party around him under the name “Left Front”, which would allow him to be a presidential candidate in 2012, but he finished fourth at the end of the first round, totaling 11, 10% of the votes, behind François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Marine Le Pen. After his failure, he failed to be elected deputy in the legislative elections. Jean-Luc Mélenchon awaits the new European elections to finally be victorious. He was re-elected on May 25, 2014 to the European Parliament.
The gradual failure of his rapprochement with the PCF led Jean-Luc Mélenchon to launch, in 2016, the movement La France insoumise (LFI) of which he is now the main incarnation. During the 2017 presidential elections, he achieved a record score, with more than 19% of voters. With this new support, Jean-Luc Mélenchon obtained the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône in the following legislative elections. Until his third presidential candidacy in 2022, he chaired the LFI group in the National Assembly.