The RN MEP and 73-year-old lawyer participates in the evening at the meeting at the Palais des Victoires, where Eric Zemmour hopes for 4,000 people to conclude his trip to the Alpes-Maritimes.
Around 6:45 p.m., the room was almost full and many people were still waiting outside.
Inside, young supporters screamed while waiting for their champion, including Gabriel Hulewicz, three-piece suit and French flag in hand.
Briefly passed by the RN, this student believes that at the meetings of Marine Le Pen, "young people can be counted on the fingers of one hand".
Saturday morning, Eric Zemmour strolled for two hours at the Forville market in Cannes, receiving a favorable reception.
Far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour surrounded by journalists upon his arrival at the Forville market in Cannes, January 22, 2022 Bertrand GUAY AFP
He was surrounded by two defectors from the RN: MEP Jérôme Rivière and former member of Generation Identity Damien Rieu.
Of sensitivity close to Marion Maréchal, they have in common to invoke "the union of the rights", the Catholic identity of France, and to judge that Marine Le Pen has "softened" in her anti-immigration speech.
"Bitterness and Jealousy"
"The egos overheat and the betrayals bathe in all the rubicons of bitterness and childish jealousies", lambasted on Twitter Louis Aliot, the RN mayor of Perpignan, who remained faithful to the Le Pen camp.
The candidate will have the opportunity to react on Sunday, during her appearance on the Sunday in politics program on France 3.
Then next week, she travels to Madrid with allied parties, to display her international stature.
The candidate has already announced the presence of MEP Nicolas Bay in Spain, in response to rumors about her possible rallying to Eric Zemmour.
Frontist deputy Gilbert Collard at a press conference on December 4, 2012 in Paris Martin Bureau AFP / Archives
Before the departure of Gilbert Collard, relatively marginalized in the party, Marine Le Pen had minimized the phenomenon on Thursday.
"In the electoral campaigns, there are always some vicissitudes", "of an interest inversely proportional to the effect that it has on the voters", she smiled at Fréjus.
"The salami technique of announcing a rally every day, I know it by heart. The Chiraquians have known it with Balladur. (...) It lasted much longer than it will last with Eric Zemmour", ironized- her again.
At this stage, the RN candidate remains above Mr. Zemmour in the opinion polls, which place her neck and neck with the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse, often around 17 or 18% in the first round, ahead of Eric Zemmour (around 13%), but far behind Emmanuel Macron (24% to 25%).
Zemmour struggles with LR
Its competitor Reconquest!
also exhibits the rallies to try to bounce back after a delicate 8-day streak.
His remarks on the "obsession with inclusion" of children with disabilities in school caused a bronca.
Eric Zemmour was also sentenced on Monday to a fine of 10,000 euros for incitement to hatred, for comments made in 2020 on Cnews about unaccompanied migrant minors.
He appealed.
The president of the National Rally (RN) and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, January 14, 2022 in Erquy (Côtes-d'Armor) DAMIEN MEYER AFP / Archives
But the rallying of Le Pen and Zemmour "it sets up a trend" and Marine Le Pen "seems out of breath", thinks a source close to the two campaigns.
Mr. Zemmour, on the other hand, seems to have more difficulty convincing executives among the Republicans (LR), apart from the former number 2 Guillaume Peltier.
"Be patient! February and March count more than January," replied the latter bravely Friday evening, before a dinner in Antibes between Eric Zemmour and lawyers committed to his cause.
Some wonder especially about the "recomposition" post 2022 in the event of failure of the two far-right rivals in the presidential election.
With in ambush, Marion Maréchal, who had accompanied Mr. Zemmour to Budapest, but did not express a preference between his aunt Marine Le Pen and the former polemicist.
© 2022 AFP