After several months of fake tension, the controversial candidate for French presidency, Eric Zamor, officially announced yesterday (Tuesday) that he has joined the race. The right-wing nationalist candidate announced his decision in a 10-minute video circulated on YouTube.
To add to the dramatic atmosphere Zamor announced in advance that at midnight he would give a special statement. Some have referred to the move as part of a media strategy to position him as a subversive person. Those interested in the event waited in anticipation in front of the screen, although many understood what the content of the message would be. The title of the video is similar to the slogan for the start-up campaign: “The time has come to rebuild the country.”
Zamor explained his decision by wanting to have more influence: “For a long time I was content with the role of journalist, writer, messenger. I decided to take our fate into my own hands. I realized that no politician would have the courage to save the country from the tragic fate that awaits it. But to save her – for that, I decided to run for president “
After a number of failed events, his campaign deteriorated a bit and the video was an opportunity to bring “The Eric Zamor Phenomenon” back to the center of the stage. Indeed the announcement through the video was successful and attracted attention. The original format was liked by his supporters and surprised his opponents as well. The video is staged with motifs from General de Gaulle’s reading on June 18: Eric was sitting at a table, ostensibly reading notes he had written for himself, and speaking in front of an impressive radio microphone.
In the video, Zamor claims that the French no longer feel at home in their country, due to the widespread presence of foreigners: “You feel like strangers in your country, you are exiled from within.” Many identified with the sense of dispossession he was talking about.
His critics argued that the video dealt too much with the past and did not provide ways to bring a better future. He presented with the help of videos from the past the France of yesteryear, which emphasized the nostalgic tendency of Eric Zamor but alienated young people who felt they did not belong because they did not get to know the country in those days. There was also criticism of the monotonous tone and squinting of a twin who does not respect a potential presidential candidate.
Voters did not hear any concrete plans in the video and had to wait for the TV interview in the evening to get details about his applied plan. In the evening, Eric Zamor touched on the need to re-industrialize France and balance the trade-debt ratio of the country. For the first time in an interview he acknowledged that immigration is not the cause of all of France’s problems but stressed that it “exacerbates them all”.