A conservative lawmaker who until last year was No. 2 in the centre-right Les Republicains party on Sunday said he was defecting to join the ranks of far-right presidential challenger Eric Zemmour.
PARIS -
Peltier told Europe 1 Zemmour was "the only candidate capable of galvanising the right and beating Macron" in the April presidential poll. It was not immediately clear how damaging Peltier's defection would be for Pecresse. The staunch rightwinger has done little too conceal the overlap in his political convictions with Zemmour and other far-right figures.
Pecresse defeated Ciotti https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-les-republicains-party-choose-between-pecresse-ciotti-presidential-2021-12-02 in a December primary run-off but Ciotti won nearly 40% of the vote, some of which analysts said could follow Peltier into Zemmour's camp.