Presidential 2022: after a breakthrough, Eric Zemmour’s pre-campaign is running out of steam

Eric Zemmour will not speak at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Friday, November 19 in London, but in the room of an Ibis hotel – a cruel disappointment for those who care about places patinated by history. The British learned society, created two hundred years ago to promote science and placed under the patronage of Prince Charles, canceled, after verifications, the rental of its amphitheater to the putative candidate, who was to hold a meeting there in front of 300 sympathizers. “Anyone wanting (…) inciting hatred against people because of their skin color or their belief is not welcome ”, said Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.

Same setback in Geneva, where 1,600 people signed an online petition against the arrival of the far-right polemicist, scheduled for November 24. He is to give a conference there with the Geneva lawyer Marc Bonnant, on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the Eaux-Vives park, which belongs to the town hall. But the city councilor of the Swiss city, Frédérique Perlier, indicated on November 14 that he was not ” welcome “ and that it would not put any public place at its disposal, to prevent Geneva from being “Accomplice in the propagation of his hate messages”. The municipality cannot, however, prevent the conference of the probable candidate, which should be held in a private place.

These failures tarnish Eric Zemmour’s tour, while the prosecution requested a 10,000 euros fine against him, Wednesday November 17, for “complicity in provocation to racial hatred” towards unaccompanied foreign minors (whom he had qualified as “Thieves, murderers, rapists” in his talk show on CNews, in 2020). Despite a meteoric breakthrough, the former chronicler of Figaro does not see his candidacy formalized before the end of November, at the risk of tiring his support. In his first circle, where we have our eyes riveted on polls indicating a slight decline, we are alarmed by a “False dish” on the way to becoming a “Hollow”. Even the audience on YouTube is running out of steam, from 415,000 Internet users having viewed its meeting in Toulon, mid-September, to 160,000 for that of Bordeaux, two months later.

“He did not put his finger on the trigger”

The quasi-candidate has multiplied the excesses to the point of doubting his camp. On November 13, he warned the television channels and then went to the Bataclan to denounce immigration and accuse François Hollande of not having “Not protected the French”. This recovery at the scene of the massacre aroused widespread political outrage and the anger of victims’ associations. ” A fault “, pushes Marine Le Pen, ensuring that she would not have ” never “ did so. “Maybe he lacks the experience of life”, disapproved of Robert Ménard Thursday on RMC, adding that “It ends up scary, the words he says”.

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