In the aftermath of the suspension by the RN of Nicolas Bay, one of its leaders also tempted by Eric Zemmour, the question of defectors on the far right drained Wednesday its share of insults and calls to close ranks .

"We are united around Marine Le Pen. Shaking a tree so that the rotten fruit falls is ultimately always a good thing, it regenerates vitality", said RMC Laurent Jacobelli, spokesperson for the campaign of the candidate, who is still in second position in the polls behind Emmanuel Macron.

The president of RN Jordan Bardella, meanwhile, minimized the departures, refusing to speak of "bleeding" on France Inter and ensuring that it was only "about ten" people out of a thousand elected .

Three MEPs - Jérôme Rivière, Gilbert Collard and Maxette Pirbakas - have already joined the candidate Reconquête!, followed by the only senator RN Stéphane Ravier, as well as several regional advisers.

Accused of "sabotage" by the party, which he refutes, Nicolas Bay, MEP and member of the executive office (management), was suspended from office on Tuesday by the RN.

This close friend of Marion Maréchal could officially rally Eric Zemmour before or around a trip by the candidate on Saturday to Normandy, where Mr. Bay is a regional councilor.

"Open Arms"

Asked Wednesday evening in C à vous, Eric Zemmour refused to confirm it while saying that he would welcome him "with open arms" judging this case "comic".

Assuring that Mr. Bay had "never transmitted anything to him", he explained these rallies because Mrs. Le Pen "ostracized all these people all these years" and that they were not in agreement "with her political line, c is quite noble".

The question of defectors also agitates the LR candidate Valérie Pécresse who, after a difficult week between unfriendly confidences from Nicolas Sarkozy and a meeting deemed to be a failure, now finds herself neck and neck in the polls with Eric Zemmour in third place.

LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse participates in a debate with entrepreneurs on February 15, 2022 in Paris Eric PIERMONT AFP

Ms. Pécresse is caught in a pincer movement between, on the one hand, two powerful far-right rivals who, between them, represent almost a third of the voting intentions, and the moderate right, of which certain senior officials like Eric Woerth have joined the camp. Macron.

Quest for sponsorships

Less than two months from the first round of April 10, several candidates are still far from the 500 sponsorships of elected officials essential to gather until March 4 to be on the starting line.

Sponsorships: where are the main candidates Sylvie HUSSON AFP

If Valérie Pécresse, Emmanuel Macron, the socialist Anne Hidalgo and the candidate of LO Nathalie Arthaud have already passed the course, candidates in good place in the polls are still far from the mark, like the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon (332), Marine Le Pen (331) or Eric Zemmour (250).

Mr. Zemmour thus had to postpone a trip to Reunion, scheduled for February 23 to 25, in order to be “totally mobilized” on the quest for 500 sponsorships.

On the left, Christiane Taubira only displays 73 for the moment.

In a letter of which AFP had a copy, she asks the mayors of France to sponsor her, in the name of "democratic debate".

Nearly twenty members of the "Taubira Collective for 2022!"

demonstrated in the early evening in front of the Constitutional Council carrying signs: "392,738 voters. Where are our sponsorships?".

Still on the left, LFI deputy Adrien Quatennens called on the communist Fabien Roussel, who gathered his troops at a meeting in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) on Wednesday evening, to join forces.

PCF presidential candidate Fabien Roussel at a meeting in Ajaccio on February 9, 2022 Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA AFP / Archives

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the best placed on the left in the polls, has in any case received the support of the former socialist presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal, for whom "it is obvious that the useful vote on the left, well, it's Jean-Luc Mélenchon (…) He's the most solid".

Taking note, however, of the failure of the rally of the left, Place Publique, co-founded by MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, said he did not support any candidate.

As for Emmanuel Macron, still not in the arena, he continues to devote himself to his international agenda with, in addition to Ukraine, a mini-summit in Paris on Wednesday evening, against a backdrop of the expected withdrawal of French forces from Mali. .

Taken to task in the Senate by the opposition, which is calling on the president to come out of the woodwork, government spokesman Gabriel Attal retorted: "Suffer that we are focused on these deadlines rather than on the presidential campaign. Even if I understand that what concerns you more than all these subjects is the question of the great replacement".

© 2022 AFP