After leaking info to Zemmour, Le Pen removes leading member from party
Nicolas Bay has been suspended from the National Rally party in France.
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right political party National Rally, has accused one of its members, Nicolas Bay, of leaking confidential information to rival election candidate Eric Zemmour according to media reports on Wednesday.
"We have confirmation that Nicolas Bay, benefiting from his involvement in the top leadership of the [presidential] campaign, has been transferring strategic and confidential data to our direct competitor, Eric Zemmour, for several months," a statement made by the National Rally read, according to France's BFMTV.
The party strongly condemned the "completely immoral behavior" of Nicolas Bay, regarding it as "sabotage."
"Almost an hour after I asked for a conversation with the executive bureau, I am removed from there! This is a serious accusation. How could I know and pass on so-called 'strategic information' without participating in any campaign management body!?'" Bay tweeted.
À peine une heure après avoir demandé une discussion en Bureau exécutif, j’en suis suspendu !
— Nicolas Bay (@NicolasBay_) February 15, 2022
L’accusation est grossière : ne participant à aucune instance de la direction de campagne, comment aurais-je pu connaître et transmettre de prétendues « informations stratégiques » !? https://t.co/91zEn2tcOQ
On January 20, the head of the delegation of the National Rally party in the European Parliament, Jerome Riviere, said that he decided to support Zemmour, who is Le Pen's main competitor when it comes to the French far-right in the 2022 elections. Le Pen, however, seems unlikely to win the elections.
Le Pen's niece, Marion Marechal, will not be voting for Le Pen either, saying that she would pick Zemmour or any other candidate who was in a better standing to take on Macron.