Zemmour joins 2027 French presidential race vowing to expel unemployed foreigners

Speaking on television on Tuesday, the leader of the Reconquête! party said he was standing to “preserve a French France so that our future is French”.

Zemmour, who came fourth in the 2022 election, wants “2 million fewer immigrants by the end of the five-year term”.

Deport foreign nationals

To get there, he plans to deport foreign nationals serving prison sentences, along with “foreign unemployed people who have been out of work for more than six months”, regardless of their residency status.

The 68-year-old former journalist, who went into politics five years ago, had said in mid-September that he would run. At the time, however, his team insisted this was not yet a formal declaration.

Far-right competition

His candidacy puts him up against a much bigger name on the far right. Marine Le Pen of the anti-immigration National Rally is widely expected to come top in the first round. She sees next year's vote, when President Emmanuel Macron steps down, as her best chance yet of winning power.

Le Pen, who lost to Macron in both the 2017 and 2022 run-offs, was thrown a lifeline in July when an appeals court shortened her ban from public office over an embezzlement conviction, clearing the path for her to stand.