The National Rally candidate attacks her far-right rival, whom she accuses of promoting, through her candidacy, the qualification of Valérie Pécresse for the second round.
Article written by
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
Riffifi to the extreme right of the political spectrum. Marine Le Pen accused her rival Eric Zemmour on Wednesday January 12 of serving as “step” to the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse for the second round of the presidential election. “Does he have the ambition to be in the second round, which I do not believe, or does he actually serve as a stepping stone to allow Valérie Pécresse to be in the second round at the place of Marine Le Pen? “, said the candidate of the National Rally on BFMTV and RMC.
“If Eric Zemmour is there to help Valérie Pécresse win then he has to admit it. Valérie Pécresse is his majority shareholder”, added Le Pen, who said on Sunday to prefer “debate with the boss (Valérie Pécresse), rather than with the underlings” like Eric Zemmour. “There is a sincerity issue behind this candidacy” Eric Zemmour, according to candidate RN, with reference to comments made by his competitor on C8 on December 16, about the 500 sponsorships necessary for a presidential candidacy.
Eric Zemmour estimated that “if the LRs do this tactical stupidity” to prevent their elected officials from sponsoring it, “Madame Le Pen will be at 25% and Madame Pécresse will not be in the second round”. Should LRs encourage sponsorship in its favor? “If they (The Republicans) were tactically smart, this is what they would do”, added the former columnist. Since then, Marine Le Pen has accused the LR candidate of letting LR elected officials sponsor Eric Zemmour to divide the far right.
Marine Le Pen and Valérie Pécresse, credited with 16 to 17% of voting intentions according to recent polls, are fighting for second place in the first round, behind Emmanuel Macron and ahead of Eric Zemmour who has fallen to 12-13%. On the side of Valérie Pécresse, her communication director Geoffroy Didier said on Sunday that the LR mayors who would give their sponsorship to Eric Zemmour “exclude themselves” of the party but that they remained “free to choose” and that’“no instructions are given” by LR.