Francois Fillon appealed his innocence to voters on Wednesday Feb. 8 through a newspaper column. He will continue to campaign and fight the allegation of an illegal payment that his wife received when working as his assistant.
Fillon wrote a letter saying that he is innocent of the accusation to create a fake jobs for his wife and family members. He vowed that he will continue to run for president despite the allegation as reported by Reuters.
"Nothing will divert me from the real aim of my presidential campaign,” Filon said. In his campaign, he promised to bring France back together.
Prior to the scandal which first arose in January 2017, Fillon was a frontrunner among the other four candidates. He was the French Prime Minister during President Nicolas Sarkozy administration from 2007 to 2012. Fillon is a popular figure among conservative groups which gaining popularity in the French.
However, the scandal has made the voters to switch to other conservative candidate, namely the National Front’s Marine Le Pen. Moreover, a recent findings has found new claims over the severance payment which his wife received as reported by The Guardian. An investigative report from French newspaper Canard Enchaîné claimed his wife Penelope had received €45,000 ($48,000) in severance contract.
In the recent survey, right-wing candidate Le Pen from National Front led the polling after Fillon scandal. Le Pen is the ultra conservative and has vowed to bring France to leave the European Union when she won the president. The uncertainty in French politics has shaken the European market and dropped Euro to its low level.
Other candidates are Benoît Hamon from Socialist, Jean-Luc Mélenchon from La France insoumise and Emmanuel Macron from En Marche. They are not as popular as both conservative Le Pen and Fillon in the survey. Moreover the three candidates do not have a clear policy in their campaign. Watch the press conference from presidential candidate Fillon regarding the allegations below:
