"Éric Zemmour wishes to continue the political fight within his Reconquest party, of which he is president," his entourage told AFP, adding that a return to his former employers was "not in his plans".

Guest of "Buzz TV", an online program from Le Figaro, the presenter of the CNews program "Face à l'info", Christine Kelly, was the first to rebut a possible return to the air of her former star columnist.

"He had always said he would move on," she explained, answering a user's question.

"It's been nine months since he left the air with us, six months since he's been a candidate, now he's moved on," she added.

"There, he is only beginning his life as a politician (...) anything can happen but it is not planned," she added.

Locomotive of CNews audiences since 2019, the far-right polemicist was removed from the program "Face à l'info" in September 2021 due to the count of his speaking time then imposed by the CSA, which considered a political figure before the formalization of his presidential candidacy at the end of November.

In September, the former journalist announced the end of his columns for Le Figaro and Le Figaro Magazine while promoting his book, "France did not say its last word".

Highly publicized, the 63-year-old identity candidate finished the presidential race with 7.07% of the vote in the first round, as for the legislative elections, where he was eliminated on Sunday in the 4th district of Var with 23.19% of the votes, 1.5 points behind the RN candidate.

The polemicist has been convicted several times for incitement to hatred, in particular for his remarks on unaccompanied minors, qualified on CNews as "thieves", "murderers", "rapists" which also earned a fine of 200,000 euros imposed on the chain. by the CSA.

© 2022 AFP