In the Palais de la Mutualité in Paris (Ve), where Nicolas Sarkozy had experienced his defeat in 2012, the last illusions of Éric Zemmour's campaign were definitively lost this Sunday April 10 at 8 p.m.
Until the end, the fans, here BCBG, of the former polemicist believed that their champion could snatch the second round, that the polls masked a "hidden vote".
But once the results of the first round of the presidential election were known, the militant enthusiasm, which welcomed the candidate of Reconquest!
— at 7% of the vote according to our Ipsos-Sopra Steria estimate for Le Parisien - Today in France, France Télévisions and Radio France — since the announcement of his candidacy, has been replaced by the heavy silence of disappointment.
Sarah, a 31-year-old videographer, embraces her companion in spite.
“People have been victims of misinformation, there have been so many false controversies about Éric Zemmour,” she squeals.
"It's because of the useful vote, gets angry at his side Eugene, a 74-year-old retiree.
We've had
the useful vote
thrown at us for three weeks , so they voted Marine Le Pen, instead of voting Zemmour.
There should be no polls in the last three weeks of the campaign.
This former frontist, who still had his RN card two months ago, will he vote Marine Le Pen in the second round?
" I'm thinking.
Not sure.
She has changed too much.
I haven't changed,” he replies.
However, this is what Marion Maréchal is about to do, who then announces it on the TF1 set.
“For us, it's a cradle, for Valérie Pécresse, it's a tomb!
»
In the spans of Mutuality, Senator Stéphane Ravier blows that he will also vote for Marine Le Pen.
A vote that in no way erases resentment.
"Marine Le Pen has a capacity for resilience, it's confirmed," he admits.
But it is a breath of fresh air which precedes the disappearance of the RN: it has no one to govern, it has had no rallying.
It looks like Austerlitz, but it's Waterloo.
» Eric Zemmour's poor performance?
“He was soaked in a bath of m…, was ultra-demonized.
The debates, it is the weakness of Le Pen that we avoided him, it is the strength of Zemmour that we withdrew from him, ”explains the one who left the RN in mid-February.
VIDEO.
Presidential: "Determined to continue the fight" despite its 7%, Zemmour calls to vote Le Pen
But this is no time for regrets.
"I prefer to lose on my ideas than to win on those of others," he relativizes, quoting Jean-Marie Le Pen.
The glass is also only half empty since Valérie Pécresse collapses far behind Éric Zemmour.
"For us, it's a cradle, for her, it's a tomb!"
smiled the senator cruelly.
“I am not surprised.
I was afraid that we would drop below 5%, ”coward Paul-Marie Costeaux, cantor of “the union of the rights”, which is already drawing up a balance sheet.
"Éric Zemmour remained in the logic of an editorialist, he got the wrong exercise", he regrets.
Only hope: “We are finally witnessing the definitive explosion of the UMP.
We don't have a good starting point for rebuilding a Gaullist party, but at least we have a basis to work on.
»
“I will continue to defend France, I will not stop there”
At 9:01 p.m., Éric Zemmour confirms that he does not intend to disappear.
“I will continue to defend France
(…)
, I will not stop there.
Reconquest!
will not give up until France is reconquered”, he promises, without further details.
If he explains his failure by "the absence of debate and campaign", "the mode of treatment" which was "reserved" for him, the "international context", he sketches a semblance of mea culpa: "Perhaps also my fault.
Read alsoThe highlights of the evening of the first round of the presidential election
“Electorally, nothing changes”, regrets the candidate, who however calls on his voters to vote in favor of Marine Le Pen.
Even if he does not believe in his heart of hearts in his victory.
"Politically, everything has changed because we arrived," he concludes.
The candidate then remains for long minutes, surrounded by his supporters, to greet the crowd, his eyes moist.
As if he couldn't get used to the idea that the presidential "saga", as he privately calls his own campaign, ends here tonight.
