Éric Zemmour also intends to participate in the right-wing primary, but not under the conditions currently envisioned by its organizers. On Friday, November 13, on the sidelines of the Made in France trade show in Paris, the president of Reconquête called on David Lisnard to advocate for a consultation broad enough to allow his movement to participate. "I hope that Mr. Lisnard will resist the pressure from his friends in the Republicans (LR) and that he will ensure Reconquête's presence," he declared, adding that he would then be "delighted" to run in the primary. This intervention places the mayor of Cannes at the center of a disagreement between the various factions of the right, just days before the scheduled meeting between the teams of Gabriel Attal, Bruno Retailleau , and David Lisnard.
For Éric Zemmour, the problem isn't limited to his own participation. The candidate also contests Gabriel Attal's presence in a competition that, according to him, is designed to select a right-wing candidate. He finds it "curious" that the former Prime Minister could participate in such an election, presenting him as a figure from the left. The president of Reconquête more broadly denounces what he considers a reconstitution of the old centrist bloc around figures from Renaissance and the Republicans. He believes that a genuine right-wing primary should allow parties defending conservative and sovereigntist positions to compete before the voters, rather than limiting the competition to those who held government positions under Emmanuel Macron.
Lisnard caught between a primary for a broader right wing and joining forces with Attal
This intervention is aimed directly at David Lisnard, who has been advocating for several years for a large-scale primary for the right. The president of Nouvelle Énergie had previously considered a scope that could include Reconquête, while believing that a common procedure should allow for transcending rivalries between political parties. However, the simultaneous participation of Éric Zemmour and Gabriel Attal is now a major point of contention. Bruno Retailleau has not endorsed the idea of a primary including Reconquête, while François-Xavier Bellamy, a Member of the European Parliament for the Republicans (LR), recently left this possibility open. These disagreements have also drawn criticism from Édouard Philippe 's entourage , who believe that the gradual expansion of the primary makes its organization increasingly difficult.
The meeting on Tuesday, November 17th, is expected to focus on a now central question: who would be allowed to participate in this primary? Gabriel Attal advocates for a center-right coalition, rejecting alliances with extremist parties. Éric Zemmour, on the other hand, wants a competition concentrated on the right, without the former Prime Minister. Between these two approaches, David Lisnard continues to argue for an open consultation, without having announced any compromise on the list of participants. The Reconquête candidate is now seeking to gain a foothold in the discussions by publicly pressuring the mayor of Cannes.
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