Rabat – Eric Zemmour is emerging as a new representative of France’s extreme right, a position that has always been exclusive to French politician Marine Le Pen. Months before France’s presidential elections, which are scheduled for April 2022, Zemmour has emerged as a surprise candidate espousing anti-Islamic, ultra-nationalist views that target minority groups such as the LGBTQ community.
Eric Zemmour has positioned himself in the French political landscape as a “credible and audible” voice for the anti-Muslim and Arab voters.
Last week, during an interview with French TV channel France 2, Zemmour claimed that immigration must be curbed or else France will become an “Islamic Republic,” and asserted that if he were elected as the French president, he would ban the use of foreign first names for newborn babies. “Under this rule, a French person will not be allowed to call their son Mohamed,” he said.
In Zemmour’s view, the French way of life and values are under threat due to Islam, and he has thrice been convicted of racial and religious hate speech.
In 2010, he reportedly said “most drug dealers are black and Arabic.” Additionally, in 2016, he was fined 3,000 euros (MAD 30,000) for provoking religious hatred after making anti-immigrant and Islamophobic remarks. In 2019, he compared Muslims in France to “colonizers”.
He has also demanded that 2 million Muslim foreigners should be expelled from France, including students from the African continent.
However, Zemmour is gaining so much momentum in presidential opinion polls that one survey this week projected that he could win the final round of the April election, and could garner 45% of the vote against centrist incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
According to French radio service Radio France Internationale (RFI), Zemmour’s electorate consists primarily of merchants, executives and small entrepreneurs, with little affiliation to Marine Le Pen.
According to official data, in 2017, there was a very high turnout of Muslim voters at 62%, and 92% voted for the candidate of France’s political party, La Republique En Marche (LREM), Emmanuel Macron. According to French insitute Opinion Way Macron secured 2.1 million Muslim votes.
According to the 2019 Special Eurobarometer, a cross-country public opinion survey, the Muslim population in France is estimated at 5% or 3.35 million. US think tank Pew Research Center predicts the Muslim population would rise to 8.6 million or 12.7% of France’s total population by 2050.
