Le Pen and Zemmour pass 'parrainage' test to run for French presidency
Far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour have gained enough signatures of sponsorship to be listed as candidates in the first round of this year’s French presidential elections.
Three days before the deadline for the signatures, known as parrainages, the Conseil Constitutionel has confirmed that Zemmour had received 620 signatures from elected officials, Le Pen had 503 signatures, while another hard-right candidate, Debout La France leader Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, had also passed the 500-signature minimum threshold to stand in the first round, with 532.
READ ALSO French elections: What is ‘parrainage’ and how does it affect candidates?
Candidates including the centre-right party's Valérie Pécresse, centre-left party's Anne Hidalgo and the far left's Jean-Luc Mélenchon had already passed the 500-signature threshold, as as current president Emmanuel Macron, although he is yet to officially confirm that he is standing for re-elction.
Last week, Le Pen’s campaign announced a ‘pause’ on campaigning to ensure that their candidate had enough parrainages to stand.
Her latest bid for the Elysée received a further blow this week, after it was revealed that 1.2 million campaign leaflets had to be binned as they featured a photograph of Le Pen shaking hands with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The latest figures - which will come as a relief to both Le Pen and Zemmour, who had also struggled to reach the 500-signature figure - takes the number of candidates with enough support to run in the election to 11. The three latest names join Valérie Pécresse (2,457), Anne Hidalgo (1,318), Yannick Jadot (669), Fabien Roussel (613), Jean Lassalle (602), Nathalie Arthaud (568), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (808), and Emmanuel Macron (1,785).
The president has yet to officially declare his intention to stand for a second term, but must do so before the deadline for parrainages on Friday, March 4th.
READ ALSO France’s Macron ‘to kick off re-election bid in March’
On that date, candidates must also provide a declaration of assets and a declaration of interests and activities to the Haute autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique.
The list of candidates will be officially published on Monday, March 7th. The campaign officially starts on March 28th, and the two rounds of the election will take place on April 10th and 24th.
Sponsorship is not necessarily the same as support. Pau mayor and leader of the centrist Mouvement démocrate (MoDem) party François Bayrou revealed that he sponsored the far-right Le Pen, while Cannes mayor David Lisnard, who is a member of the centre-right Les Républicains, gave his signature to Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the far-left La France Insoumise.
Another Republicain MP, François-Xavier Bellamy has confirmed he has sponsored Zemmour, and said that he would vote for him if he got through to the second round as an opponent to Emmanuel Macron.
Above 500
Valérie Pecresse 2,457
Emmanuel Macron 1,785
Anne Hidalgo 1,318
Jean-Luc Mélenchon 808
Yannick Jadot 669
Eric Zemmour 620
Fabien Roussel 613
Jean Lassalle 602
Natalie Arthaud 568
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 532
Marine Le Pen 503
Below 500
Philippe Poutou 342
François Asselineau 263
Christiane Taubira 181
Anasse Kazib 144
Hélène Thouy 114
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Three days before the deadline for the signatures, known as parrainages, the Conseil Constitutionel has confirmed that Zemmour had received 620 signatures from elected officials, Le Pen had 503 signatures, while another hard-right candidate, Debout La France leader Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, had also passed the 500-signature minimum threshold to stand in the first round, with 532.
READ ALSO French elections: What is ‘parrainage’ and how does it affect candidates?
Candidates including the centre-right party's Valérie Pécresse, centre-left party's Anne Hidalgo and the far left's Jean-Luc Mélenchon had already passed the 500-signature threshold, as as current president Emmanuel Macron, although he is yet to officially confirm that he is standing for re-elction.
Last week, Le Pen’s campaign announced a ‘pause’ on campaigning to ensure that their candidate had enough parrainages to stand.
Her latest bid for the Elysée received a further blow this week, after it was revealed that 1.2 million campaign leaflets had to be binned as they featured a photograph of Le Pen shaking hands with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The latest figures - which will come as a relief to both Le Pen and Zemmour, who had also struggled to reach the 500-signature figure - takes the number of candidates with enough support to run in the election to 11. The three latest names join Valérie Pécresse (2,457), Anne Hidalgo (1,318), Yannick Jadot (669), Fabien Roussel (613), Jean Lassalle (602), Nathalie Arthaud (568), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (808), and Emmanuel Macron (1,785).
The president has yet to officially declare his intention to stand for a second term, but must do so before the deadline for parrainages on Friday, March 4th.
READ ALSO France’s Macron ‘to kick off re-election bid in March’
On that date, candidates must also provide a declaration of assets and a declaration of interests and activities to the Haute autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique.
The list of candidates will be officially published on Monday, March 7th. The campaign officially starts on March 28th, and the two rounds of the election will take place on April 10th and 24th.
Sponsorship is not necessarily the same as support. Pau mayor and leader of the centrist Mouvement démocrate (MoDem) party François Bayrou revealed that he sponsored the far-right Le Pen, while Cannes mayor David Lisnard, who is a member of the centre-right Les Républicains, gave his signature to Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the far-left La France Insoumise.
Another Republicain MP, François-Xavier Bellamy has confirmed he has sponsored Zemmour, and said that he would vote for him if he got through to the second round as an opponent to Emmanuel Macron.
Above 500
Valérie Pecresse 2,457
Emmanuel Macron 1,785
Anne Hidalgo 1,318
Jean-Luc Mélenchon 808
Yannick Jadot 669
Eric Zemmour 620
Fabien Roussel 613
Jean Lassalle 602
Natalie Arthaud 568
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 532
Marine Le Pen 503
Below 500
Philippe Poutou 342
François Asselineau 263
Christiane Taubira 181
Anasse Kazib 144
Hélène Thouy 114
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