Marine Le Pen’s niece defects to rival French far-right campaign

Marion Marechal Le Pen formally backs Eric Zemmour within the April 2022 presidential elections.

Zemmour holds Marion Marechal Le Pen's hand as he arrives on stage throughout a marketing campaign rally in Toulon [Jean-Francois Badias/AP]

Marion Marechal Le Pen, the niece of French far-right chief Marine Le Pen, has formally joined forces with a rival marketing campaign for the April 2022 presidential elections in a blow to her aunt’s bid.

Marion Marechal Le Pen, who can also be the granddaughter of French far-right figurehead Jean Marie Le Pen, endorsed far-right pundit Eric Zemmour at a rally in Toulon, southern France, on Sunday.

“There's a huge, nationwide motion behind your candidacy,” she instructed the Toulon rally.

The 32-year-old additionally instructed the Valeurs Actuelles journal on the assembly that she shared Zemmour’s views over France going through a “battle of civilisations”.

“Almost about the time period of battle of civilisations, I clearly embrace questions concerning migration, tradition and demographics,” Marion Marechal Le Pen instructed Valeurs Actuelles.

President Emmanuel Macron, who final week lastly made clear he was standing, is the overwhelming favorite to win a brand new time period, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seen as bolstering his place by retaining different candidates within the shade.

A fine addition

Marion Marechal Le Pen’s defection and willingness to trigger a household rift is a fine addition for Zemmour, who has began to slide within the polls in latest weeks after having fun with an preliminary surge when he declared his candidacy.

Marine Le Pen had in January mentioned she was personally harm by her niece’s plan to defect, saying: “It’s brutal, it’s surprising, it’s tough for me.”

Marine Le Pen, left, meets residents of Bruay-la-Buissière throughout a marketing campaign go to [File: Francois Lo Presti/AFP]

Polls at present counsel Le Pen and Zemmour are the primary contenders for a runoff towards Macron, with the normal right-wing candidate Valerie Pecresse failing to ignite her marketing campaign.

An Ipsos-Sopra-Steria ballot revealed on Saturday confirmed Macron on the right track to win 30.5 % within the first spherical, a studying that's up sharply because the begin of Russia’s conflict towards Ukraine.

Le Pen is on 14.5 % and Eric Zemmour 13 %. Pecresse was placed on 11.5 %, eclipsed by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon on 12 %.

Marion Marechal is seen by many observers to be a future chief of the far-right nationalist camp.

Elected because the youngest member of parliament in 2012 on the age of twenty-two, Marechal stepped again from front-line politics 5 years later to spend extra time together with her daughter and open a political sciences college centered on nationalism.