"Our political elites have neglected these territories. You were not as connected, as sympathetic as the inhabitants of the suburbs", quipped Mr. Zemmour (Reconquest!) During this public meeting, organized in the early evening in the suburbs. prefecture of 13,000 inhabitants.

In the midst of "President Zemmour" and French flags, the far-right candidate praised the "productive and creative potential" of the French campaign "in the face of Parisian elites who do not understand you".

Like Marine Le Pen (RN) or elected officials on the right, he criticized in passing "the wind turbines so ugly so noisy, in addition so inefficient" and promised to "put an end" to their establishment in France.

Short circuits in canteens, food sovereignty, "patriscore" on the traceability of products, urgent hiring of 1,000 doctors employed by the State to fight against medical deserts ... Eric Zemmour unrolled his proposals for "rurality", leaving for a time the fight against immigration, his favorite theme.

In the audience, Vincent, a young notary from Janville-en-Beauce is delighted that we are talking about rurality when "everyone wants to please the voters of the cities".

Coming from Tours, Claudie judges for her that "if Macron returns, France is dead. We can no longer bear that the scum in France has all the rights".

In Châteaudun, Emmanuel Macron (23.6%) and Marine le Pen (23.2%) tied the game in the first round in 2017, followed by Francois Fillon (21.7%).

The first had largely won in the second round with 65% of the votes in the town.

"The Kärcher never came out"

During the day, Eric Zemmour crisscrossed the Beauceron cereal plain, with, among other objectives, that of collecting sponsorships from elected officials, while he regularly repeats his difficulties in collecting the 500 necessary signatures.

In Bonneval, in the "little Venice of Beauce", he had lunch with around forty elected after a meeting at the town hall.

There he pleaded to restore power to the mayors by reinstating the plurality of mandates, in order to "put an end to the deputies above ground".

And defended at will the "France of the forgotten", an expression that Marine Le Pen often repeats.

His close advisor Sarah Knafo brushes aside any mimicry.

"It's an expression that many people use. We are addressing rural France, not the electorate of Marine Le Pen."

In the village of Villampuy, 300 inhabitants, the mayor Vincent Lhopiteau, shows his support for Eric Zemmour whom he sponsors.

A matter of "convictions" for the city councilor, who was in the past legislative candidate for the former party of Philippe de Villiers.

"It's the uninhibited right, not like Valérie Pécresse. She talks about Kärcher, like Sarkozy, but he never came out," laments Mr. Lhopiteau.

During a meeting and galette des rois with farmers, several criticize France for "assistantship" and tell of their difficulties in recruiting for "jobs where you have to get up early".

"Suddenly we have Poles, Eritreans, refugees, and the problem is that they do not speak the language," said Nicolas, who works in agricultural equipment.

At a seed producer, Eric Zemmour also scratches "the ecological dictatorship" and the "over-transposition of the Brussels directives".

Before talking to an employee, who voted "Marine to act as a barrier" to Emmanuel Macron in 2017. For 2022, he hesitates, but he is still "fed up" with "the rise in fuels and all that. that we are caught in the teeth ".

© 2022 AFP