"They (my ideas) are no longer carried by Marine Le Pen and they are carried by Eric Zemmour. From there, it is obviously coherent, logical, to support Eric Zemmour. I will therefore support Eric Zemmour in this presidential campaign" , said the elected official of Bouches-du-Rhône on Europe1 / CNews / Les Echos.

He specified that his sponsorship would go to the far-right candidate for "balance of all accounts" but that he "left the RN" where he had been active for "30 years".

He criticized Marine Le Pen's "lack of combativeness" on immigration, also judging "difficult to accept" to consider like her that "Islam in all circumstances (is) compatible with the Republic".

Marine Le Pen "lacks combativeness, she no longer has the niaque, she no longer wants to. She is constantly composing, backing down before being elected", he estimated.

The senator, close to Marion Maréchal who now "leans" for Eric Zemmour, also castigated the "non-management" of his party, which "has nothing to do with local establishment", as many criticisms which had arisen within of the movement after the failure of the RN in the regional elections in June 2021.

He also attacked "this habit that this movement has taken, which calls itself a rallying movement, (...) of excluding, of cutting off the heads of all those who have not put a knee in front of Marine Le Pen, who do not adopt this marinolatry in all circumstances".

Stéphane Ravier had pressed Marine Le Pen on Wednesday to "clarify the situation" of his party in Marseille, which was torn around a sponsorship in favor of Eric Zemmour, to find out if she would be "always (his) candidate".

Three MEPs, Jérôme Rvivière, Gilbert Collard and Maxette Pirbakas, as well as several RN regional advisers, have announced in recent weeks their support for Eric Zemmour's campaign.

Defections that Marine Le Pen has minimized, even rejoicing at the departure of those who do "the taqiya (concealment, editor's note)".

That "those who want to leave leave. But they leave now", she had launched in Madrid alongside MEP Nicolas Bay, also cited among those tempted by Eric Zemmour.

© 2022 AFP