Europe 1 with AFP 6:31 p.m., February 16, 2022, modified at 6:31 p.m., February 16, 2022

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

Candidate LR Valérie Pécresse also feels threatened.

Hit by a wave of departures, the RN is pleased to see that the "rotten fruits are falling", but Marine Le Pen is going through a difficult period in her presidential campaign, threatened, just like Valérie Pécresse, by Eric Zemmour who continues to garner support .

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, who is still in second position in the polls behind Emmanuel Macron.

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

Several pundits have joined Reconquest

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 Éric Zemmour before or around a trip by the candidate on Saturday to Normandy, where Nicolas Bay is 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 agitates the LR candidate Valérie Pécresse who, after a difficult week between unfriendly confidences from Nicolas Sarkozy and a meeting deemed a failure, now finds herself neck and neck in the polls with Éric Zemmour in third place.

"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 who joined Emmanuel Macron.

Asked about CNews, Ms. Pécresse's political adviser, Nadine Morano, considered it "possible" that Éric Zemmour would siphon off the votes of the Republican electorate, which, in her view, justifies a "firm speech" from the right-wing candidate because " no one would have imagined that Éric Zemmour would be at this level".

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.

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 Éric Zemmour (250).

Éric Zemmour, who would indeed offer Matignon to Marion Maréchal as he confided to the women's magazine

Elle

, had to postpone a trip to Reunion, scheduled for February 23 to 25, in order to be "totally mobilized" on the quest for 500 referrals.

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".

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.

Taking note of the failure of the left-wing rally, Place Publique, co-founded by MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, announced on Wednesday that it would not support any candidate.

As for Emmanuel Macron, still not an official candidate, 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".