French presidential hopeful Fillon refuses to drop out
PARIS — Francois Fillon on Monday defiantly refused to drop out of the race to be France’s next president despite an investigation into whether well-paid political jobs he gave his wife, son and daughter were genuine, a scandal that has knocked him from his perch as favourite in the April-May voting.
The conservative politician who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2012, the chief workhorse under then-President Nicolas Sarkozy, has long had a reputation as low-key, reliable and standing for moral rectitude, making the corruption scandal particularly shocking to his party, supporters and the French as a whole. On Monday, two weeks after revelations first surfaced, he scrambled to save his candidacy.
“I have nothing to hide,” Fillon told a news conference aimed at stanching the blood-letting and conspiring within his party about who might replace him as candidate. “All acts described (in the media) are legal and transparent.”
Determined despite unending attacks, Fillon, stressing his 32 years in politics, vowed to stay in the race.