PARIS, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Eric Zemmour, a politician with a prominent anti-Islam and anti-immigrant stance, confirmed on Tuesday that he would stand in next year’s French presidential election.
• “I can confirm to you that I will indeed be a candidate in the Presidential election,” Zemmour, whose party is called “Reconquest”, told TF1 TV
• “I am standing so I can try and keep a France that is French, and so that the future of our country remains French,” he added
• Zemmour, a former well-known newspaper journalist and TV commentator, had stood in the 2022 election when he won 7% of the votes in the first round
• Zemmour got a criminal conviction in 2020 for making remarks in which he called Muslim women and men wearing traditional religious clothing part of an “invasion” and a “colonization”
• A poll on Monday showed that far-right leader Marine Le Pen and hard-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon had consolidated their lead in voting intentions ahead of next year’s presidential election
• Polls currently state Marine Le Pen as likely to win next year’s election
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
