Gilbert Collard joins Éric Zemmour and leaves the RN – The HuffPost

Benoit Tessier via Reuters

POLITICS – Between judicial news, heckled movement and backlash in the polls, the presidential campaign ofEric Zemmour is going through a zone of turbulence, which his side puts into perspective by highlighting the new rallies from the RN, including the one to come by Gilbert Collard.

The far-right candidate began this Friday, January 21, a trip to the Alpes-Maritimes, to Menton and Antibes, before a meeting on Saturday in Cannes, where he hopes to bring together 4,000 people at the Palais des Victoires. And show off his new recruit, the MEP who will therefore leave the national rally.

“Tomorrow I’m going to swim in the river (…) Rubicon”, announced the ex-lawyer Friday on Facebook, before the entourage of Zemmour confirmed his rallying.

Complicated week

This Friday afternoon, the candidate visited the Menton-Saint-Louis border post surrounded by his two new recruits already poached from his rival Marine Le Pen: the MEP Jérôme Rivière and the former identitarian Damien Rieu, who assures that the RN “stagnates” and “regresses”, while “Zemmour is a rocket, with dynamics and rallies”.

On the polls side, Éric Zemmour is however in decline. At 80 days from the first round, he obtains around 12 to 14% of the voting intentions, appearing to be unhooked from Valérie Pécresse (LR) and Marine Le Pen (around 17 and 18%) and far from Emmanuel Macron (LREM, 24-25%).

In Cannes, Éric Zemmour intends to speak out on the “squats scandal” after several highly publicized cases in the region. This trip follows eight difficult days for the former polemicist, inaugurated by the bronca caused by his remarks against “the obsession with inclusion” students with disabilities at school. The candidate Reconquest! spent the week qualifying its release, pleading to find solutions adapted to each child, traditional school environment or specialized establishments.

On the legal front, he appealed a sentence on Monday of a fine of 10,000 euros for incitement to hatred, after comments on unaccompanied migrant minors in 2020 on CNews.

See also on The HuffPost: Zemmour’s trip to Calais did not end as planned