In the aftermath of the suspension by the National Rally of Nicolas Bay, one of its leaders also tempted by Eric Zemmour, the question of defectors to the far right continues Wednesday to drain its share of insults and calls to tighten rows.

"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, himself a former Debout la France activist.

With Ms. Le Pen still in second place in the polls behind Emmanuel Macron, RN president Jordan Bardella has tried to minimize departures, refusing to talk about "bleeding" on France Inter and ensuring that It was only “about ten” people out of a thousand elected.

MEP Nicolas Bay, suspended from the RN on February 15, 2022, during a press conference on January 18, 2022 in Paris STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP / Archives

Three MEPs - Jérôme Rivière, Gilbert Collard and Maxette Pirbakas - have already joined the candidate Reconquête!, followed last Sunday 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.

Without naming him, Marine Le Pen "asked those who operate the slug strategy to please speed up their departures (...) because the slug is slow but also sticky".

The question of defectors also concerns 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

"The errors in form (of his meeting) mean at some point something about the substance" of his program, estimated on LCI his former ally Eric Woerth, former Sarkozyist minister who joined Emmanuel Macron a week ago.

Event 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 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).

On the left, Christiane Taubira, who won the popular Primary at the end of January, has only 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".

The "Taubira Collective for 2022!"

also plans to demonstrate in front of the Constitutional Council at the start of the evening to question it on a supposed blocking of sponsorships and to denounce the "methods used by EELV and the PS".

Still on the left, LFI deputy Adrien Quatennens called on the communist Fabien Roussel, who is holding 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

"He told me he would go all the way, unless there was an opportunity for the left to be in the second round. However, our popular bloc is at the gates", assured Mr. Quatennens on Public Senate .

As for Emmanuel Macron, still not an official candidate, he is going to Toulouse to stimulate the Europe of Space and continues to devote his agenda to the international with, in addition to Ukraine, a mini-summit in Paris on Wednesday evening, against the backdrop of the expected withdrawal of French forces from Mali.

© 2022 AFP