Mathieu Souquière, expert from the Jean Jaurès Foundation, and co-author with Damien Fleurot of 2022, the populist outbreak, estimated on Saturday January 22 on franceinfo, that“Éric Zemmour is credible in this story of the union of the rights”, while the presidential candidate received the support of several former members of the National Rally.
Franceinfo: Éric Zemmour advocates the union of the rights. Who is he talking to ?
Mathieu Souquiere: We can clearly see with this meeting that we are entering a second sequence for Éric Zemmour, a sequence which is completely different from the first. If we compare the Cannes meeting with the first one held in Villepinte in December, we are clearly in two rooms and two radically different atmospheres. He had this time on the platform around him a certain number of rallies which weigh symbolically, which are people whom we know, who come both from the old extreme right of the National Rally and from the Republicans.
So we can clearly see that the image of Eric Zemmour, who until now was a man alone against everyone and who was very divisive, is precisely changing. This second sequence is of another nature because it is no longer there to split. He is now there to gather. This is the whole paradox of Eric Zemmour from the start. He is the one who strikes Marine Le Pen from his right. He is this famous re-demonized extreme right. However, at the same time, it can embody the union of rights.
Who does he ask to join him? Rather to the voters or to the other members of the National Rally and the Republicans?
In any case, we can clearly see that he is credible in this story of the union of the rights. Until now, the union of the rights has been a taboo in presidential campaigns because it has served the interests of neither the extreme right nor the right. Let us remember that at the time of Jean-Marie Le Pen, he already condemned at the time what he called “the UMPS”. There was then no question for the National Front to imply that bridges could be established with the right, which had in reality betrayed its camp. And in the same way, at the time of Jacques Chirac, there was a sanitary cordon that we worked to maintain vis-à-vis the extreme right.
“There, the question of the union of the rights becomes central in the campaign because the porosity of the electorates has undoubtedly never been so great as today.”
Mathieu Souquière, expert from the Jean Jaurès Foundationat franceinfo
In particular on the relationship to authority and even more on the fact of migration. The positions of LR supporters are fully aligned with the positions of supporters of the National Rally or those who support Éric Zemmour. There is a stake in reaching out to that part of the right. The moderate right, the liberal right is in a way already in power with Emmanuel Macron. This is why, today, Eric Zemmour is totally justified in claiming this capacity for union that he could be the only one to do.
Can he count on other rallies in the weeks to come?
Among the headliners or some elected officials, we do not know. On the other hand, we know that Guillaume Peltier is quite active today in the consolidation of a certain number of sponsorships until these last days. It is not yet known, of course, if other headliners will fall in the coming weeks. We can quite imagine, on the other hand, that thanks to a campaign dynamic, things can happen. The right-wing, conservative electorate, close to the Republicans, was a reliable, solid, stable electorate in past elections. This is no longer the case.