Ciotti distinguished himself during the primary campaign by taking positions clearly on the Right, in contrast to the very centrist positioning of the finalist Valérie Pécresse.
The chants came after Zemmour blamed France’s dismal security situation—which in recent years has seen murders, rapes, and violence explode—on incumbent candidate President Macron’s careless migration policies.
Today in France, taking a sovereignist line is unfortunately understood as Putinolatry, and it is extremely difficult to hear a balanced point of view on what the positioning of a strong France in the international game should be.
France is no novice to this particular battleground. It was only in late October that Le Petit Robert announced the inclusion of the neutral third person pronoun “iel” for its digital edition.
The journalist’s popularity is being driven by a charismatic campaign on social networks, reinforced by excellent control over images communicated through the media and through his rallies.
Zemmour regularly claims in his speeches his affiliation with the former RPR, and his desire to achieve a “union of the Right.” He hopes to gather within his candidacy all the families of the French Right attached to national identity, sovereignty, a certain economic liberalism, and a (moderate) social conservatism.
The distribution of votes among the various right-wing candidates resembles a game of communicating vessels. Marine Le Pen is ploughing her own furrow. Eric Zemmour puts ‘des mots sur des maux’ (words on evils): it is what he does best. He can participate in the reconfiguration of the French right. Will he go much further?
The year 2022 is starting badly for the French government. While it wanted to use the outbreak of the omicron variant in France to impose the vaccine pass before mid-January, things are looking more complicated than expected.
