'No one can stop me' standing in French election, says Fillon

‘No one can stop me’ standing in French election, says Fillon

By : AFP

Date: 5 March 2017 9:38pm WAT

French presidential election candidate for the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party Francois Fillon (C) gestures as he delivers a speech on stage during a rally at the place du Trocadero, in Paris, on March 5, 2017. Embattled French conservative Francois Fillon told supporters at a Paris rally on March 5, 2017 to "never give up the fight" as he strives to stay in the presidential election race amid an expenses scandal. Fillon, who is to be charged over claims he gave his wife and children highly-paid fake parliamentary jobs, told the rain-drenched crowd he had been "attacked by everyone" in the campaign. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

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French conservative candidate Francois Fillon said Sunday “no one” could stop him standing in the presidential election despite calls from within his own party to quit over an expenses scandal.

“No one today can prevent me being a candidate,” Fillon said in a TV interview in which he again said a probe into allegations he gave his wife a highly-paid fake parliamentary job was politically motivated.

“Of course it is aimed at stopping me being a candidate,” Fillon said of the probe in which he is to be charged on March 15. Asked if he would bow to calls from within his own Republicans party to withdraw, Fillon said: “My answer is ‘no’.”

Fillon was the frontrunner in the race until the fake jobs allegations were made in mid-January.

He has since lost support and polls currently show he risks being knocked out in the first round on April 23 with far-right leader Marine Le Pen and 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron progressing to the runoff two weeks later.