Falling poll ratings since then will benefit far right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker running as an independent. A daily IFOP poll of voting intentions for the April 23 first round showed Fillon down one percentage point since Wednesday to be level with Macron. Another survey showed 69% of people wanted Fillon to drop his bid. But in the right-leaning newspaper Le Figaro, party stalwarts such as former candidates Bruno Le Maire and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet offered Fillon their "total support". The scandal has heightened investor concerns that National Front leader Le Pen could win and take France out of the euro and the European Union.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 02, 2017 21:22 UTC