France's presidency Candidates compete in the anti-Muslim rhetoric

Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric has become the most polarizing discourse for voters in France, and the focus of the competition for French presidential candidates, who, despite their differences in several files, agree on this specific issue.

In light of the escalation of anti-Islam and anti-immigrant rhetoric in the election campaigns, coinciding with candidates from the right and far-right leading the intentions of voting, the concerns of French Muslims are growing.

And according to what was revealed by the latest opinion poll conducted by the company "Ipsos-Supra Styria", the current President Emmanuel Macron is still leading the vote with 25%, ahead of his closest competitor by about 10 points.

While the leader of the far-right, Marine Le Pen, won 15.5 percent of the vote, the same percentage obtained by Valerie Pecres, the candidate of the Republican Party, which represents the traditional Gaullist right.

As for the far-right Eric Zemmour, a Jew of Algerian origin, he fell to fourth place with 13%.

Despite their differences on many issues, the issue of Muslims and immigrants is almost the only point of convergence between them.

Macron from left to center to right

After establishing his centrist party "Republic on the Move" after leaving the Socialist Party, the current French President Emmanuel Macron gradually began to drift towards the right, and even reached the point of bidding in some files on the extreme right in his hostility to Islam and Muslims in an unprecedented way.

He issued the controversial "anti-Islamic separatist" law, which is based mainly on restricting freedom for Muslims, and closed mosques within a few months. At the time, his interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, claimed that 70 of the more than 2,500 mosques in France were "extremist".

Macron has often provoked Muslims with his anti-Islam statements, such as saying that "Islam is in crisis", in addition to his support for images offensive to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and the dissolution of Muslim associations, including the "Rally Against Islamophobia in France", which opposes racism against Muslims.

Macron's anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric has escalated, coinciding with the rise of the far-right trend in France after the murder of a French teacher who published insulting pictures of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, in 2020.

Le Pen and Zemmour A struggle for leadership of extremism

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the "National Rally" party, is no longer alone in the far-right camp. After Eric Zemmour entered the presidential race, he bid her extremism and split her camp.

On that day, Le Pen is fighting to prevent her party's decline in the presidential elections, rivaled by two prominent presidential candidates, who adopted an extreme right-wing rhetoric against Muslims and immigrants, more extreme than her rhetoric.

Zamour threatened Muslims, with more racist and harsh decisions, if he succeeded in winning the ruling, such as changing their names in France and preventing them from naming their children “Muhammad” and other decisions.

Zemmour succeeded in this by attracting a large number of voters from the extreme right camp, the latest of which was the support he received from Marie Le Pen's father, Jean Marie Le Pen, which was a stab in the back.

But Le Pen quickly regained its voting intentions, after Zemmour’s popularity declined recently, due to the use of violence by a group of his supporters against an anti-racist association, which demonstrated at one of its meetings, on December 5, which prompted the Ministry of the Interior to dissolve the “Zawaf” group. Paris", and before him the "Generation Identity" association.

However, Le Pen and Zemmour both agree in espousing the "Great Replacement" theory, which promotes the idea that foreign peoples, Muslims among them, will replace the French people, to attract far-right voters.

Bekris Searching for a place under the umbrella of extremism

Candidate Valerie Pecres is not much different in her anti-immigrant stance from the rest of the candidates, though her anti-Muslim statements seem less extreme than Zemmour, Le Pen and Macron.

In this context, Pecresse pledged, if elected to the presidency of France, to be "tougher" on immigration. It had previously suggested "the deportation of foreigners who pose a threat to public security, especially those who adopt an extremist Islamic discourse."

At the time, she accused Macron of condoning "Islamism, but also uncontrolled immigration and increasing insecurity."

With the Republican Party today in danger of losing its popularity and losing its base to the right, Peaks has tended to adopt a more hawkish rhetoric on immigration and Muslims.

Thus, the results of probing opinions reflect that the candidate who will advance to the second round against Macron has not yet been decided, and that he is still confined between Pecris, Le Pen and, to a lesser extent, Zamour.

Thus, the four candidates for the presidency of France are competing over the most hostile and inciting discourse against Muslims, who today find themselves in a very difficult situation.