New poll puts Zemmour in round two of French vote, behind President Macron

October 22, 2021

PARIS (Reuters) – The hard-right political talk-show star Eric Zemmour was forecast to reach the second round of the French presidential election in a new poll published on Friday, although President Emmanuel Macron was still forecast to win the first round.

A poll published on Friday for Le Monde newspaper by Ipsos Sopra Steria gave Zemmour between 16-16.5% of votes in the first round of next year’s election – enough to put him in the final, second-round run-off vote.

Macron was seen with 24 percent of votes in the first round, on the assumption that Xavier Bertrand stood for the right-wing Les Republicains party, and with 28 percent if Michel Barnier stood for Les Republicains.

The poll for Le Monde marks the second survey which has put Zemmour – whose candidacy remains unconfirmed – in the final, run-off vote of the election, following a similar forecast in a Harris Interactive poll earlier this month.

Surveys still forecast Macron as the likely, eventual winner.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, edited by Benoit Van Overstraeten)

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