This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Leadership changes; Marechal etc leaving. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2024)
From September 2021, opinion polling for the 2022 presidential election showed a sharp rise in favour of far-right[8] journalist and author Éric Zemmour in the months before he officialised his candidacy. A series of polls suggested that he might reach the presidential election's second round, competing against incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.[9][10] Although there had been speculation about a possible run for the presidential nomination of The Republicans in the party's 2021 congress, Zemmour opted to put his name forward as a new party nominee.[11]
Éric Zemmour formally announced his candidacy for the presidency on 30 November 2021 through a video posted on YouTube.[12][13] It was seen by over 2.6 million viewers in three days.[14]
Reconquête was launched on 5 December 2021;[15] at the founding rally held in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, Zemmour proposed a "reconquest of the greatest country in the world" in front of 15,000 people.[16][17] The party's name is direct reference to the Spanish Reconquista.[18] Zemmour and Reconquête's campaign directors for the upcoming elections were announced as Court of Audit magistrate Sarah Knafo and former French Army major general Bertrand de La Chesnais.[19][20] Reconquête's youth wing, Génération Z, which had been established to mobilise the youth around a possible presidential candidacy of Zemmour, entered the party structure ex post.[21][22]
In February 2022, a reporter embedded into the Zemmour campaign's online division discovered and reported on a covert online campaign targeting Facebook and Wikipedia. A "shadow army" was delegated to join a huge number of Facebook groups and post pro-Zemmour content to raise the candidate's profile as much as possible. Another group of the shadow online team is a task force called "WikiZedia" which is tasked with editing pages on Wikipedia, in particular the French article about Zemmour, which is the top viewed article on French Wikipedia. "WikiZedia" members are charged with promoting Zemmour's page and linking to it as much as possible at the online encyclopedia.[45][46] A veteran editor of French Wikipedia who was one of its top contributors was identified as being part of the Zemmour shadow team, described as being "in charge of the Zemmour page on Wikipedia" and was blocked from editing by Wikipedia administrators,[47][48] along with six other editors.[49][46] As soon as they learned of the affair, Wikimedia France immediately alerted the French media online watchdog agency ARCOM, which tracks online piracy and manipulation of digital communications.[47]
Reconquête vows to bolster the French economy in line with what some observers have called a Colbertist approach,[51] as well as avoid what it calls the "Great Replacement" of the French people.[52] Its main campaign themes are identity, education, taxes, industry and independence.[53] It advocates for a reduction in immigration numbers, de-Islamisation, security through new deportation legislation, an improvement in public instruction levels with a revision of the collège system, lower taxes for the least prosperous French people, as well as higher economic competitivity.[54] Speaking at the founding rally, Zemmour promised to "slash immigration to almost zero", to deport people who unsuccessfully sought asylum and illegal immigrants, as well as to remove France from NATO's integrated command.[17][55]
In terms of economic policy, Reconquête seeks to implement a "country-score" (French: Patrie-score) which would clearly indicate to the consumer whether a product is French or not.[56]
In foreign policy, the party seeks to strengthen French fiscal and political autonomy against the European Union (EU).[57] Zemmour has expressed support for Brexit and the UK's vote to leave the EU, but argued that France's situation was different and that he would not seek to withdraw France from the EU. Instead, he has summed up his position as "I want France to be in Europe, but I want France to come first before Europe" and pledged to veto any further EU expansion plans. He has also stated the platform will include withdrawing France from EU immigration and asylum policies, ensuring the French tricolour is always displayed above the EU flag, putting French law above EU law and halting accession talks with Eastern European nations looking to join.[58][59] Reconquête is also opposed to the accession of Turkey to the European Union.[57] The party takes a pro-Israel stance, with Zemmour describing the Israel-Hamas war as the "fight of our civilisation", calling for a ban on Hamas's parent organisation, the Muslim Brotherhood, in France, and visiting Israel in solidarity.[60][61]
The party supports banning the Islamic veil (hijab) in all public places.[62]
Reconquête seeks to ban the Muslim Brotherhood and linked organisations. The party also wants to place a ban on structures that seek to promote Jihad. It would like to put into practice a tighter control of imams and Islamic preachers in mosques and other Islamic sites in France, including tighter control of external funding for these places of worship and preachers.[62]
^Duvert, Yann (9 February 2022). "Présidentielle : Eric Zemmour retrouve de l'élan". Les Échos. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022. Reconquête, son parti créé il y a à peine deux mois, continue en parallèle de faire le plein, et a franchi mardi la barre des 100.000 adhérents.
^ abAsmoun, Faouzi (18 February 2022). "Présidentielle 2022 : Éric Zemmour épinglé pour avoir manipulé Wikipédia" [2022 presidential elections: Éric Zemmour spotlighted for manipulating Wikipedia]. LaDepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved 21 February 2022. L'association Wikimédia France vient d'annoncer l'ouverture d'une enquête approfondie à la suite de la tentative de manipulation de l'information sur le Wikipédia francophone par l'équipe d'Éric Zemmour. ... La communauté des rédacteurs de Wikipédia a d'ores et déjà banni sept comptes. [The Wikimedia France Association has just announced the opening of an in-depth investigation following the attempt by Éric Zemmour's team to manipulate information on French Wikipedia. ... The editing community has already banned seven accounts.]
^ abPixels (21 February 2022). "Page Wikipédia d'Eric Zemmour : l'encyclopédie en ligne répond aux " tentatives de manipulation "" [The online encyclopedia responds to "attempts at manipulation"]. Le Monde. Retrieved 22 February 2022. L'association Wikimedia France a également alerté l'Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle (Arcom, ex-CSA) par courriel. [The Wikimedia France association also alerted the Audiovisual Communication Regulation Authority (ARCOM, ex-CSA) by email.]
^Turcan, Marie (18 February 2022). "Wikipédia bannit 7 contributeurs qui trompaient l'encyclopédie pour favoriser Éric Zemmour" [Wikipedia bans 7 contributors who cheated the encyclopedia to favor Éric Zemmour]. Numerama (in French). Retrieved 21 February 2022. Ils étaient plus de cinquante bénévoles, le 17 février 2022, à se prononcer en faveur d'un bannissement de sept contributeurs de Wikipédia qui modifiaient l'encyclopédie en ligne pour favoriser Éric Zemmour. [On 17 February 2022, more than fifty volunteers voted in favor of banning seven Wikipedia contributors who were editing the online encyclopedia to favor Éric Zemmour.]
^"Économie : Le programme d'Éric Zemmour". programme.zemmour2022.fr (in French). RECONQUÊTE!. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022. Mettre en place un Patrie-score pour indiquer clairement au consommateur la procenance française d'un produit
^ ab"Europe". Programme.zemmour2022.fr. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
