‘Rockstar of the Right’ Marion: Zemmour Can Unite People Around Him to Win Presidency

French far-right politician Marion Marechal delivers a speech at the opening of France&#03
CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

Marion Maréchal, the niece of populist Presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, has formally joined the presidential campaign of right-wing rival conservative Eric Zemmour, arguing that he stands a better chance of uniting voters to defeat Emmanuel Macron.

Maréchal, who is a former MP of the Front National (FN) that was led by Marine Le Pen before the party rebranded to become the National Rally (RN), formally pledged her support to conservative pundit and writer Eric Zemmour at a rally in Toulon on Sunday.

“I’m not going to lie to you, it was difficult to make that decision. My political past, my professional responsibilities, my family ties, did not make this choice obvious,” Maréchal said at the rally and added, “But five years ago I left with a sense of discouragement, with the impression that we were the useful idiots of saving the system,” 20 Minutes reports.

“I believe victory is possible again. Eric Zemmour is the best placed in this election, it is not a question of polls, but politics is a dynamic, it is bridges that are being built, it is a skill that is asserting itself,” she added.

In an interview published on Sunday by the French conservative magazine Valeurs Actuelles, Maréchal went deeper into why she is now supporting Zemmour over her aunt in the first round of the presidential race.

“First of all, I was absolutely convinced that a political space had been neglected for years, especially because of the ideological and strategic choices of the National Rally. As we know, half of the RN voters have never returned to the polls since the 2017 presidential election,” she said.

“Today, I consider that Eric Zemmour is in the best position to qualify and create a surprise in the second round. He has cards in hand that others don’t have,” she told the magazine, indicting that Zemmour had more potential to unite conservatives and others around him than Marine Le Pen.

“Eric Zemmour seems to be the only one who can tear down the electoral wall that had gradually been erected between different French socio-professional categories,” Maréchal said and added, “By building a project for all, using another dialectic, Eric Zemmour has managed to bring together French people from all backgrounds and all conditions. He is tearing down this famous electoral wall that I was talking about. This is very good news for the defenders of national unity that we are.”

Maréchal left French politics in 2017 after the defeat of Marine Le Pen and many have been curious since as to whether she would return to French political life.

When asked if she was returning to politics by supporting Zemmour, Maréchal stated, “My involvement in the presidential campaign in support of Eric Zemmour will therefore be active and total. And yes, we can consider that it is a sustainable return to political action. I know that it is the circumstances, the events, the voters who decide this, but I have the wish to participate with all my strength in the recovery of our country.”

“I hope to be able to be a useful instrument in the context of this great orchestra that is being set up, and which, at the end, I am sure, will give harmonious music and, I am convinced, victorious for our country,” Maréchal said.

Current French presidential opinion polling shows Zemmour may have a fight ahead of him to make it to the second round as two polls released on Monday put him in fourth place.

An OpinionWay/Kéa Partners poll gave Zemmour 11 per cent of the vote, while Le Pen stood at 18 per cent and centre-right Les Republicains (LR) candidate Valérie Pécresse at 13 per cent as French president Macron led with 30 per cent.

Ifop-Fiducial polling, meanwhile, gave Zemmour 12.5 per cent but the polling for Le Pen, Macron and Pécresse polled the same as the OpinionWay/Kéa Partners survey.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

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