The terrible twins of the French far right vilify each other in public. But they need one another.
PARIS — The proposal of far-right nuptials came unprompted, as Marine Le Pen was touring a fair in the town of Vesoul, near National Rally heartlands in eastern France.
“If you could marry Eric …” a supporter cheekily suggested.
Le Pen laughed, then grimaced at the idea of tying the knot with far-right TV pundit-turned-candidate Eric Zemmour.
The National Rally leader has little immediate appetite for such an arranged marriage, but it’s a political match that would trigger alarm among the other runners in April’s presidential election. Together, she and Zemmour would win a third of the electorate, according to POLITICO’s poll of polls.
If they don’t join forces, they could scupper each other’s hopes. In the French political system, the two candidates with the most votes in the first round of voting face off in a run-off. Both Zemmour and Le Pen run the risk of splitting the far-right vote and canceling each other out.
