Monday was a day of reprieves for Francois Fillon, the embattled center-right candidate for president of France, who has been grappling with allegations of corruption and calls for him to drop out of the race.
First came the end of a threat that Alain Juppe, a prominent rival, would challenge or even replace him as the standard-bearer of the center-right. Juppe announced in the morning that he had decided “once and for all” not to run.
A second threat, that the French Republicans party would publicly disavow Fillon, was averted later in the day. Top party officials emerged from a meeting in Paris to say that they had agreed unanimously to keep on supporting him.
Photo: AFP
French news outlets reported that Fillon, who took part in the meeting, put his foot down, emphasizing that divisions within the party could not spread further.
However, with less than 50 days to go before the first round of voting on April 23, the rifts on the French right that have been exposed by the scandal surrounding Fillon are unlikely to heal before the presidential and legislative elections.
Hundreds of Fillon’s former backers have distanced themselves from him. However, the developments on Monday seemed to bolster Fillon’s claims that there is no one suitable to replace him.
Juppe, mayor of southeastern Bordeaux, on Monday told reporters that the presidential campaign had been dominated by “unprecedented” confusion.
“What a waste,” he said, accusing Fillon of squandering the center-right party’s chances of winning.
Fillon, who like Juppe is a former French prime minister, won primaries on the right and center-right in November last year, led in the polls and appeared to be on track to reach the second round of voting, where he would have a good chance to defeat his likely opponent, Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front.
However, Fillon’s campaign was upended by reports that his wife and two of his children were paid with taxpayer money to be parliamentary aides, posts that might not have involved much genuine work.
Fillon has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the scandal.
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