It’s one of those defining moments in a campaign. Éric Zemmour is holding his first meeting Sunday, December 5 in Seine-Saint-Denis, and the pressure is maximum, for several reasons.
First, the Republicans will have nominated their candidate, and will therefore engage from this weekend the battle to conquer the right-wing electorate. And unlike his competitors, for Eric Zemmour, this is the first campaign meeting of his life. “He never spoke to venues saying ‘vote for me’, “recalls an advisor. And that is what the candidate will do on Sunday. In order not to miss this moment, so that it does not ring true, his team is putting the package on the scenography.”We will try to talk to the five senses“, explains a relative.
Everything, absolutely everything, is worked to the millimeter: the light, the colors, the music, the gestures, the movements, the tempo … The very conception of the stage, thought to enhance a rather puny candidate who will have to fully occupy the space . To transform, Eric Zemmour relies on a key man in his device: Olivier Ubéda, whom the general public may have discovered these days on television sets. And who has spent more than 15 years in the shadow of the candidates.
Ubéda is a trump card in the game ofEric Zemmour, in particular because it is he who conceived the meeting of Villepinte of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. Already the same room, which makes him say besides that he “play at home“. At the time, the scene had a central island, so that on wide shots of the cameras, Nicolas Sarkozy was in the middle of the crowd.Eric Zemmour this Sunday will not be comparable, Ubéda assures that he started with a blank page.
What we will see in Villepinte will become the scenographic signature of the candidate. “We will find the protocol in all the meetings, explains a staff member, so it has to print“. That the room reacts. That the returns are good. It also adds to the stake. 15,000 seats have been rented, which arrive by semi-trailer on Saturday morning. The campaign team communicates on 19,000 registered, with registrations which will be closed this Friday evening. Analysis of someone close to Zemmour: “Triggering of the candidacy changed the game, people want to see the candidate. “
Villepinte also allows, if the room is not full, to play with removable panels so that it does not show too much, and that is also why the location was chosen. But there will also be difficulties. This petition launched by Stéphane Troussel, the president of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, for the owner of Villepinte to cancel the rental. Or possible demonstrators around the room.
PETITION
The group @ViparisOfficiel welcome sunday in #SeineSaintDenis E. Zemmour, convicted of inciting racial hatred.
This group signed a charter in 2009 to promote … “non-discrimination”.Let’s denounce this hypocrisy. Let’s sign! https://t.co/jVnaxNzlVI
– Stéphane Troussel (@StephanTroussel) December 2, 2021