PARIS: Conservative French presidential candidate Francois Fillon appealed to voters on Wednesday via a newspaper column to back his campaign, trying to claw back support after losing his place as frontrunner over accusations of fake jobs for his family.
Fillon has managed to stem a rebellion within his party, partly for lack of a clear "plan B", but plunging popularity ratings show the 62-year-old, who pegged his campaign on an image of integrity, faces an uphill battle to convince voters.
"I have nothing to hide," Fillon said in his letter to voters. "Everything was legal." "Nothing will divert me from the real aim of my presidential campaign: set France back upright and bring the French together," he said. "It's up to you and only you to decide."
Opinion polls show Fillon, a clear favourite until the jobs scandal erupted, is unlikely to reach a second round run-off, in which centrist Emmanuel Macron is seen beating far-right party leader Marine Le Pen. But Fillon was not far from Macron in an Opinionway poll published on Wednesday, with the outcome within the margin of error.
Uncertainty over the outcome of the election, taking place in two rounds on April 23 and May 7, has this week driven the premium that investors demand for holding French over German government debt to multi-year highs.
After apologising on Monday for having employed family members, and with Wednesday's letter to voters, Fillon's new strategy includes attacking the legitimacy of the financial prosecutor's office investigating the fake jobs allegations. DROP OUT The investigation is "void," Fillon's lawyer Antonin Levy told journalists on Tuesday, in a change of tack after Fillon had said he welcomed the investigation and wanted it to be concluded as quickly as possible.
Fillon has said he would drop out of the presidential race if he was put under formal investigation. The investigation is so far a preliminary one and it is unclear when it will be over.
Fillon's troubles started when the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported that Fillon's wife Penelope had received public money for work she may not have done. It later said two of his adult children had also received taxpayer money.
Fillon has said his wife did work for him. On Wednesday, BFM Business, a TV channel, said in an article on its website that Fillon was paid 200,000 euros in fees by insurance company AXA between mid-2012 and mid-2014 via his consultancy business 2F Conseil.
French media speculated at the end of last year that former AXA chief Henri de Castries could become finance minister. AXA and Fillon's entourage did not reply to requests for comment.
A source in the Socialist party said grandees in his The Republicans party were unlikely to topple Fillon now, given no clear alternative candidate had emerged and time ran out to organise a new primary.
"They weren't far (from a party coup), but they got stuck," the source said.
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