Éric Zemmour

Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (French: [eʁik zemuʁ] ; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on Face à l'Info, a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to 2021. He ran in the 2022 French presidential election, in which he placed fourth in the first round.

Born in the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, Zemmour studied at Sciences Po. He worked as a reporter for Le Quotidien de Paris from 1986 to 1996. He then joined Le Figaro, where he worked until 2021. Zemmour also became known as a television personality, appearing as a pundit or co-host on shows such as On n'est pas couché on France 2 (2006–2011) and Ça se dispute on I-Télé (2003–2014), as well as Zemmour et Naulleau (2011–2021), a weekly evening talk show on Paris Première, together with literary critic Éric Naulleau. Zemmour also worked for RTL from 2010 until 2019, first hosting the daily radio show Z comme Zemmour, prior to joining Yves Calvi's morning news show as an analyst. His book The French Suicide (Le Suicide français) sold more than 500,000 copies in 2014.

Zemmour is well known for his controversial views regarding immigration and Islam in France. He has extensively supported the idea of the "great replacement", a conspiracy theory contending that France's native population will be replaced by non-European people. Zemmour was fined for incitement to racial discrimination in 2011 and for incitement of hate against Muslims in 2018. He appealed the conviction before the European Court of Human Rights but he lost the appeal. He was acquitted six times of similar charges, in 2008, 2014 (twice), 2016, 2017 and 2019. Convictions in 2015 and 2020 were overturned on appeal.

Zemmour announced his candidacy for the 2022 French presidential election on 30 November 2021. On 5 December 2021, he launched Reconquête, a nationalist political party. In 2021, a New York Times article described Zemmour's views as "hard-line... on immigration, Islam's place in France and national identity", while he self-identifies as Gaullist and Bonapartist. During his presidential campaign, Zemmour advocated vast changes in France's political system. He endorsed Marine Le Pen for the second round.

Zemmour was a candidate for a parliamentary seat in the Saint-Tropez-centred 4th constituency of the Var department in the 2022 French legislative election but was eliminated in the first round, placing third.