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France's Fillon under fire as party chiefs bring forward crisis meeting

04 March 2017 23:29 (UTC +04:00)

Embattled French presidential candidate Francois Fillon was under growing pressure to quit the race on Saturday as his party leaders brought forward a meeting to discuss the situation and former allies shied away from a planned rally to support him, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Once the frontrunner, Fillon is mired in a scandal over his wife's pay, and his campaign has been in serious trouble since he learned this week that he could be placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds.

After a string of resignations among advisers and backers, the 63-year old former conservative prime minister is banking on a rally of supporters in Paris on Sunday to show his detractors that he remains their best hope to win the presidency.

But as soon as he ended a campaign meeting on Saturday at which he defended his political plans as the only credible future for the country, The Republicans party announced it was bringing forward a meeting of senior officials to discuss the latest developments.

"Given the evolution of the political situation just seven weeks from the presidential election ... the political committee, which includes notably the candidates of the (party) primaries, has been brought forward by 24 hours to Monday March 6 at 1800 (12 p.m. ET)," it said in a statement.

Former prime minister Alain Juppe, who lost to Fillon in the November primary and has been widely touted to replace him should he step aside, is not attending.

Opinion polls continue to show Fillon would fail to make the second round of the April/May election. Instead, centrist Emmanuel Macron is consolidating his position as favorite to win a second-round head-to-head against far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen.

Fillon's backers have been on the offensive since the candidate revealed that he could be placed under formal investigation.

They are organizing a demonstration of up to 45,000 people on Sunday to show he still carries favor among grassroots supporters. At Saturday's campaign meeting he remained defiant.

"Brick by brick, I have prepared an ambitious program, the only one in my eyes that can restore France's vitality," he told a smaller-than-expected crowd of supporters north of Paris.