Victor Chabert with AFP
modified to
7:12 p.m., March 06, 2022
The niece of Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal, formalized her rallying to Eric Zemmour on Sunday during the meeting of the candidate Reconquest! in Toulon (Var), a new episode in the fratricidal war within the far right as the presidential election approaches.
“I believe victory is possible again”
“I am sure that the political recomposition will happen, I believe victory is possible again”, launched the former FN deputy (now RN) from Vaucluse, 32 years old. She castigated Emmanuel Macron, a “divisive president”, who “forced us to sort between vaccinated and unvaccinated” and “opened the way for the fight of races with this woke ideology”. Marion Maréchal praised France as “eldest daughter of the Church”.
Eric Zemmour’s entourage hopes to make this rally a “turning point” to relaunch his campaign, after a complicated sequence on the conflict in Ukraine and a drop in the polls. “The rallies, it participates in the story of a campaign, but it hardly moves the voices”, estimates for his part the pollster Frédéric Dabi, of Ifop.
The former MP had retired from political life after the defeat of Marine Le Pen in the 2017 presidential election to found a private “school” of political science in Lyon. With the aim of waging a fight that is more “cultural and metapolitical” than electoral or partisan. More conservative than Marine Le Pen on societal issues and more liberal in economics, Marion Maréchal told Le Figaro in January “leaning towards Éric Zemmour” despite “a family subject” with his aunt.
Marion Maréchal wants to return to political life
The granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen had also expressed his desire to return to political life, visibly aiming for the legislative elections, perhaps again in the Vaucluse. Marion Maréchal, who wishes to keep her autonomy, joins Eric Zemmour, but does not join his party, Reconquête!. Four RN MEPs, including a leading member of the party, Nicolas Bay, as well as the only senator in the National Rally, Stéphane Ravier, have joined Eric Zemmour’s campaign in recent weeks. Nicolas Bay and Stéphane Ravier are also both ideologically close to Marion Maréchal.
On Saturday, Marine Le Pen joked about the rallying of her niece, a “lifeline” of Eric Zemmour’s campaign which is “collapsed”. The RN candidate is given in the second round according to the latest polls, several points ahead of her rival.