Marine Le Pen says far-right rival Eric Zemmour’s camp has ‘a few Nazis’

 

Marine Le Pen says far-right rival Eric Zemmour’s camp has ‘a few Nazis’

 

Feud escalates, as French far-right contenders bid to rally support.

 

BY CAMILLE GIJS

February 4, 2022 12:45 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-eric-zemmours-france-election-nazi/

 

While Marine Le Pen claims she is “tired of the sound and the fury” of her provocative past, the far-right presidential candidate has attacked her rival Eric Zemmour, claiming he has “a few Nazis” among his supporters.

 

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro, Le Pen dismissed Zemmour’s bid by claiming his supporters are a melting pot of marginal factions from her own party’s past, “which came in and out with their lot of dodgy characters.”

 

“There are traditionalist Catholics, pagans, and a few Nazis,” she added.

 

Le Pen is holding her first large meeting on Saturday, in Reims, while Zemmour, a former columnist twice convicted for hate speech, will be rallying supporters on the same day in Lille. Rival candidates have entered a fierce competition to reach the second round of the French presidential election in April, campaigning on tough anti-immigration platforms.

 

Le Pen took a hit in the polls after Zemmour declared he would run for the presidency, but she is still leading with 17 percent against 13 for Zemmour, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls. The journalist’s presidential bid has allowed Le Pen to cast herself as a more reasonable, less aggressive nationalist champion.

 

“The thrill of brutality, of punchlines and of constant controversy, I’ve come back from this,” she said.

 

In 2017, multiple outlets reported on the ties between Le Pen’s previous presidential campaign and a Hitler-admiring contractor. According to an investigation from Le Monde, her 2022 campaign still has ties, albeit looser, with the company he ran and still owns shares in.

 

Le Pen’s campaign has taken major blows, as key figures from the identitarian wing of her party have joined Zemmour. Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece, said last week she didn’t know who she would support during the campaign and that she was “leaning” toward Zemmour.

 

Le Pen also said that it was her last presidential campaign, but that she would continue to be involved in politics if she didn’t win this time.