Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen have managed to scrape together enough endorsements from elected officials to earn a spot within the French presidential race with only days to spare.
After a tumultuous few days, the pair earned a spot on the ballot paper for France’s presidential run off, with the populists breaching the minimum 500 endorsements from elected officials needed to run for the position.
While both candidates have been performing extremely well in the polls, neither had much success in gathering official signatures needed to run in the race, with Le Pen going so far as to suspend her campaigning to focus on endorsement gathering.
According to a report by Le Monde however, both of the candidates have now breached the 500 threshold and will now be able to focus on the race ahead.
Chaleureuses félicitations à nos militants qui ont inlassablement cherché les parrainages avec détermination et conviction !
Merci aux élus qui font vivre la démocratie en permettant à des millions de Français de voter pour leurs idées.
Et maintenant, en avant pour la victoire 🇷 pic.twitter.com/6PAbzzjVbH— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) March 1, 2022
“Warm congratulations to our activists who have tirelessly sought sponsorship with determination and conviction!” Le Pen wrote online, announcing that she had gathered enough signatures to continue with the race.
“Thank you to the elected officials who bring democracy to life by allowing millions of French people to vote for their ideas,” the Rassemblement National candidate continued. “And now forward for victory.”
Le Pen Suspends Presidential Campaigning Over Lack of Official Sponsorshipshttps://t.co/Y2VnPCGP6J
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 23, 2022
Zemmour also took to social media to thank his supporters.
“Thanks to the unfailing commitment of my teams, to the freedom of spirit of several hundred mayors and elected officials and thanks to the determination of the French people, I crossed the franchise today at 5 p.m. the threshold of 500 sponsorships necessary for my candidacy for the presidency of the Republic,” the populist firebrand said in a statement posted to social media.
The outsider candidate also apparently couldn’t resist getting a jab in at his right-wing rival, Le Pen.
“I have this objective achieved without any outside help, without the support of either a political system that is out of breath, or of the old parties who have done everything to prevent my candidacy, because it is a candidacy of rupture and reconquest,” he said, seemingly in reference to the fact that Le Pen had to avail of the so-called “sponsorship bank” set up by Mouvement Démocrate to reach the threshold.
Led by François Bayrou, MoDem had committed to helping candidates who have reached 10 per cent or more in national polling to get signatures if they were struggling to do so.
French Reconquete! presidential candidate Eric Zemmour and Rassemblement National (RN) party presidential candidate Marine Le Pen pass each other as they present their economic campaign programs to the French employers’ association in Paris on February 21, 2022. (ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty)
Eric Zemmour speaks during the evening news broadcast of French TV channel France 2 at the France Televisions studios in Paris, on February 1, 2022, as Marine Le Pen is displayed on a screen. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)
“Can candidates who are at this level be excluded from the election by the sponsorship mechanism?” asked Bayrou. “I do not share the political opinion of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour, but I would find abnormal, and even scandalous, that they cannot present themselves.”
Both of the populist candidates will now compete to oust incumbent president Emmanuel Macron who has become a symbol of much controversy in France since he assumed power in 2017.
During his five years in office, Macron has been hit with widespread protests — including the now infamous Yellow Vest demonstrations that swept the streets of Paris — while also heading up the implementation of a controversial regime of vaccine passes he said were designed to “piss off” the unvaccinated.
Despite this however, Macron remains in pole position in the race at 28 per cent of predicted first-preference votes, with any potential run-off appearing to favour the La République En Marche founder.
President Macron Says He Wants to ‘Piss Off’ Unjabbed by Banning Them From Social Life With Vax Passhttps://t.co/7O9Jhjat1Y
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 5, 2022
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