- Title: France's Fillon stays in presidential race despite deepening legal probe
- Date: 1st March 2017
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MARCH 1, 2017) (REUTERS) FILLON ADDRESSING AUDIENCE
- Embargoed: 15th March 2017 12:40
- Keywords: Francois Fillon France presidential elections wife statement probe
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA003664PFT3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Conservative French presidential candidate Francois Fillon vowed to stay in the presidential race on Wednesday (March 1) despite a magistrate's intention to place him under formal investigation for alleged misuse of public funds.
His statement at his campaign headquarters came after a morning of speculation that he was about to withdraw following his decision to postpone a campaign visit to the Paris farm show.
It came as opinion polls continued to show he would lose the election. The polls show independent centrist Emmanuel Macron consolidating his status as favourite, and put far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen also among the leading candidates.
Fillon's campaign has been dogged since late January by an official investigation into alleged misuse of taxpayers' money involving hundreds of thousands of euros paid to his wife and family. He had been favourite to win until the affair began.
He has denied wrongdoing along with the allegations by a satirical newspaper that his wife did little work for her salary as a parliamentary assistant and in other roles.
On Wednesday, he revealed that investigating magistrates appointed last week to the case planned to put him under formal investigation, and had summoned him to appear before them on March 15.
He denounced the process as a "political assassination," but said he would cooperate with it and appear before the judges as requested.
"I'll leave it up to the French people, because only the popular vote and not a one-sided procedure, can decide who will be the next president of the Republic. I will not give up. I will not withdraw. I will go to the very end because beyond just me, it's democracy that's at stake," Fillon told reporters.
Speaking at his campaign headquarters, French conservative politician Gerard Longuet said both sides of the story needed to be heard and that only Fillon's judicial opponents had so far expressed themselves.
Fillon won the ticket to stand for The Republicans in November on a platform as a rare honest man in politics, beating off rival Nicolas Sarkozy, himself embroiled in an electoral funding probe, and Alain Juppe, who has a conviction for a fake work scandal of his own dating back to 2004. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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