About 25% of French Want Fillon to Stay in Presidential Race Despite Scandal

One person out of four in France would like presidential hopeful Francois Fillon to keep his candidature despite the still growing controversy surrounding the employment of his wife, a new poll by Harris Interactive showed Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the poll carried out for the Atlantico news outlet and RMC broadcaster, 52 percent of the supporters of the center and the right want Fillon, The Republicans (LR) party nominee, to withdraw and 47 percent among the LR supporters are of the same opinion.

The poll showed that 38 percent of the respondents agreed with Fillon's recent claim that a probe into his wife's employment was "a political assassination."

The new survey also showed that the French had grown less confident in Fillon's victory at the elections, with only 17 percent believing that he is certain or likely to win, which is 11 percentage points less than on February 6.

On Wednesday, Fillon confirmed at a press conference that he had been summoned for an interview with examining magistrate, promised to attend and tell the truth and stressed that he would not withdraw his candidature from the presidential race.

The scandal broke out in late January around Fillon’s wife allegedly having been paid from state funds for jobs without exercising her duties. French media also questioned Fillon's children's employment as his parliamentary assistants between 2005 and 2007.