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Éric Zemmour is running for the presidential election in France
Photo: Joel Saget / AFP
The far-right commentator Éric Zemmour has confirmed that he will run in the French presidential elections next year.
“It is time to reform and save France.
That's why I decided to run for president, "Zemmour said in a video message posted on YouTube, which was also broadcast on French television.
The 63-year-old has long been considered a possible challenger to incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
The former journalist, who comes from an Algerian-Jewish family, has been stirring up the primary campaign in France for weeks.
Although he has not yet announced his candidacy publicly, he had temporarily overtaken the right-wing populist politician Marine Le Pen in the polls.
Recently, however, his campaign stalled.
According to a poll published on Sunday, he would get 14 to 15 percent of the vote in the first ballot, while Le Pen got around 19 percent.
Incumbent Emmanuel Macron can therefore hope for 25 percent.
The first round of voting is scheduled for April 10th.
The runoff election between the two top-ranked candidates is scheduled for April 24th.
More soon at SPIEGEL.de.
asa / Reuters / AFP
