Eric Zemmour joins France presidential race

French far-right politician Eric Zemmour said Friday that he would run in next year's presidential election, joining a race in which Marine Le Pen is widely projected to lead the first round.

“I will be a candidate in the presidential election,” Zemmour, head of the Reconquest party, told BFMTV. He finished a distant fourth in France's 2022 presidential election.

Zemmour said he supported halting immigration and “remigration” of foreigners to their countries. He said foreign offenders should be sent back, including those not in prison, and also called for the removal of undocumented immigrants, long-term unemployed foreigners and people he described as living solely on welfare benefits.

Le Pen, from the anti-immigration National Rally party, was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron in the last two presidential elections. Macron is due to step down next year.

Opinion polls in recent weeks have projected Le Pen to lead the first round of the upcoming election. A poll this weekend suggested centrist former prime minister Edouard Philippe could reach a second round against Le Pen only if centrist rival Gabriel Attal stepped down; otherwise hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon could be her opponent.