Nearly Two-Thirds of French Think Fillon Wrong to Stay in Presidential Race

59 percent of the French thought that a different The Republicans' (LR) candidate at presidential race would do better than Francois Fillon, according to opinion poll.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Seven out of 10 French nationals believe that The Republicans' (LR) candidate Francois Fillon is wrong to not drop out of the presidential race amid the scandal around his wife's employment, a new survey by French polling organization Odoxa showed Friday.

On Wednesday, Fillon said at a press conference that he would not withdraw his candidature and denounced the investigation into his wife allegedly having been employed as his parliamentary assistant and paid without actually doing the job as "a political assassination."

According to the poll, 74 percent of the respondents do not see anything abnormal in investigations being opened into candidates during a presidential campaign, while 64 percent think that Fillon is treated like any other person accountable to the law, thus disagreeing with the candidate himself who said on Wednesday that he was treated differently.

The poll showed that 59 percent of the French thought that a different LR candidate would do better than Fillon.

Fillon is set to appear before the investigative magistrate on March 15.

The first round of the French presidential elections is scheduled for April 23, with the run-off slated for May 7.