Zemmour's task is therefore to prise support from a rival who currently appears to hold the momentum on the far right.
Éric Zemmour has confirmed he will run in France's presidential election next year, telling TF1 television that he would be "a candidate in the presidential election" and that he was standing to "keep a France that is French", according to Al Jazeera. The 68-year-old author and veteran television commentator, known for his anti-Islam and anti-immigrant positions, finished fourth in the 2022 contest. His announcement sets up a contest on the far right of French politics in April 2027.
The substance of the bid, as reported, is a set of hard-line proposals on immigration and residency. Zemmour says he wants to expel foreign offenders held in prison and "foreign unemployed people who have been out of work for more than six months", even where those concerned are legal residents. He also speaks of wanting "two million fewer immigrants" in France. Such measures would raise substantial legal questions under French and European law, though the report does not set out how he would pursue them or whether they have been costed.
His pitch is framed against last month's student-led cost of living protests, during which violence broke out. According to the report, immigrants are seen by many on the far right as key instigators of that unrest, and Zemmour's rhetoric draws directly on that claim. The report does not offer evidence for the assertion, and it should be treated as a contested political characterisation rather than an established fact.
The political context is one of a consolidating frontrunner. The report says last month's violence has driven soaring popularity for Marine Le Pen, the National Rally leader with whom Zemmour will compete, and that she is widely projected to win the election to replace Emmanuel Macron, whose term as president is ending. Zemmour's task is therefore to prise support from a rival who currently appears to hold the momentum on the far right. The report gives no polling figures for Zemmour himself.
The wider field is also in motion. Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Unbowed, the far-left candidate who has been accused of encouraging the unrest, unveiled his programme on Saturday to some 17,000 supporters, according to the report. That points to a contest shaped by the aftermath of the protests on both flanks. What is not yet known is how Zemmour's candidacy will affect Le Pen's projected lead, whether other candidates will enter, and how the legal residency proposals would be received by the courts and by France's European partners. The report offers no answers on these points, and the campaign has only just begun.
