Eric Zemmour, far-right rival of Le Pen, joins French presidential race

French far-right politician Eric Zemmour said on Friday, September 18, that he would run in next year's presidential election, vowing to crack down on immigration and expel unemployed foreigners even if they were legal residents. "I will be a candidate in the presidential election," the head of the Reconquête party, who was a distant fourth with 7.07% of the vote in the 2022 election, told the BFMTV broadcaster. He joins the fray as more prominent far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is eyeing her best chance at winning power next year when President Emmanuel Macron steps down, after a court in July reduced her ban on holding public office for a graft conviction. The veteran politician from the anti-immigration Rassemblement National party, who was runner-up to Macron in the last two elections, has been widely projected to lead in the first round of the vote. Zemmour supports a halt to immigration as well as "remigration" of foreigners back to their countries. "All foreign offenders must be sent back, even those who are not in prison," he said. "We must also, obviously, send back undocumented immigrants. We must also send back those who have been unemployed for a long time, and all those who live solely on welfare benefits."