PARIS — The proposal of far-right nuptials came unprompted, as Marine Le Pen was touring a fair in the town of Vesoul, near National Rally heartlands in eastern France.

“If you could marry Eric …” a supporter cheekily suggested.

Le Pen laughed, then grimaced at the idea of tying the knot with far-right TV pundit-turned-candidate Eric Zemmour.

The National Rally leader has little immediate appetite for such an arranged marriage, but it’s a political match that would trigger alarm among the other runners in April’s presidential election. Together, she and Zemmour would win a third of the electorate, according to POLITICO’s poll of polls.

If they don’t join forces, they could scupper each other’s hopes. In the French political system, the two candidates with the most votes in the first round of voting face off in a run-off. Both Zemmour and Le Pen run the risk of splitting the far-right vote and canceling each other out.

That risk has only grown with a head of steam building behind a freshly nominated candidate on the center-right. Recent polls show Valérie Pécresse from the conservative Les Républicains party is in the ascendant.

Indeed, a leading pollster on Tuesday suggested that Pécresse was well poised to leapfrog the dueling pair on the far-right. According to a poll by Elabe for L’Express and BFMTV, Pécresse had 20 percent support, closing in fast on President Emmanuel Macron’s 23 percent. Le Pen and Zemmour garnered 15 and 14 percent respectively.

This new poll means that the fast-rising Pécresse now sits between Le Pen and Zemmour in POLITICO’s poll of polls.

Fears of such a scenario had led some members of the Le Pen and Zemmour campaign teams to speculate about a possible alliance, or at least acknowledge the risks associated with both of them going it alone.

“It’s very possible that the rivalry between Marine Le Pen and Zemmour will become a killing game,” said a National Rally heavyweight, “and that both will be eliminated.”

Far-right ‘union’
A Le Pen-Zemmour ticket at this point seems like a very long shot, not least because the far right duo appear to hate each other.

But politically, an alliance would make sense. The National Rally boasts a very strong following among the working classes, who feel short-changed by globalization. Zemmour attracts wealthy voters who want to defend the nation state and family values against immigration.

As recently as 2018, Le Pen and Zemmour were discussing a political alliance ahead of the European elections with Le Pen offering him a spot on a National Rally list. At the time, the talks failed.

The possibility of a joint ticket was the elephant in the room during a recent visit by Zemmour to the coastal city of Marseille, shortly before the anti-immigration hardliner announced his candidacy.

In Marseille, Zemmour walked beside National Rally senator Stéphane Ravier, who openly discussed the need to build “a broad union” behind Le Pen for the second round — assuming she gets there.

Asked whether he would support Le Pen in such a scenario, Zemmour said during the visit that he would not “fall into line behind anybody” but conceded that a “big union was needed to beat Macron.”

According to a Zemmour ally and friend, a deal could be reached between the two rounds of the election.

“Neither will collapse before the elections, so until then they’re stuck in the trenches facing each other,” he said. But “neither can win without the other.”

At each other’s throat
The first obstacle to presenting a joint ticket for the far right is the candidates themselves. Not a day goes by without Zemmour attacking Le Pen, and vice versa.

She was “lamentable” he recently told the British daily The Telegraph and “humiliated us all.” Voting Le Pen this time, he says, is “voting for Macron.”

Over the past couple of weeks, Le Pen has accused Zemmour of being “very arrogant”, “disdainful” and having a “degraded” image of women.

And neither are known for being of a compromising disposition.

“In private, Marine Le Pen is extremely angry about his bid,” says a former National Rally advisor, “she hides it well and puts on a brave face because she couldn’t carry on being grumpy about his emergence.”

Le Pen has also deliberately marginalized all those who are ideologically close to Zemmour, particularly on issues of French identity, says this advisor.

Within Zemmour’s camp, insiders say he is not interested in wheeling and dealing with adversaries, his is a so-called new style of politics.

Double agents
Both Le Pen and Zemmour know that the opponent’s voters are ultimately an untapped seam of support as the election gets closer.

The meeting with Ravier in Marseille and the presence of Lorrain de Saint Affrique, the advisor of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine’s father, at his first campaign rally were read as outward signs that the two camps were talking, at the very least.

And behind the scenes, insiders say talks are ongoing even if Le Pen and Zemmour are not said to be speaking directly.

“Without a doubt, they have built transmission belts between the two parties,” said the former National Rally advisor.

But those who imagine U.N.-style envoys building bridges could not be further from the truth. There’s no shortage of bad blood in the far right. Those who play the go-betweens may also be double agents plotting in the background.

“There’s a group of people who will deliver the death blow if Le Pen shows signs of weakness,” said the same former advisor, “but if not, they will stay put.” Those within National Rally who are in a position of talking to Zemmour may be tempted to turn on Le Pen, but only if her power appears to be ebbing.

And in this group, some are playing their cards close to their chest and speculating on a reconfiguration of the far right as the race between Le Pen and Zemmour heats up.

“If Zemmour succeeds, it’s quite interesting,” says another National Rally councilor, “it raises the question as to whether [part of the National Rally] joins his troops or whether we stay put and try to influence Zemmour.”

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Trouver l’autre mystérieux

L’amour est un mystère pour ceux qui le vivent, un mystère pour ceux qui le regardent. Nous constatons, mais nous ne comprenons pas. Pourquoi ? Parce que ce qui nous lie à l’autre est inexplicable. Aimer vraiment, c’est aller vers quelqu’un, non pas seulement pour son image (sa beauté, sa ressemblance avec tel ou tel), ni pour ce qu’il symbolise (un père, une mère, le pouvoir, l’argent), mais pour son secret. Ce secret que nous ne savons pas nommer, et qui va rencontrer le nôtre : un manque ressenti depuis l’enfance, une souffrance singulière, indéfinissable. « L’amour s’adresse à notre part d’inconnu, explique le psychanalyste Patrick Lambouley.

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