Juppe backing Fillon, says not jumping ship
Macron strengthens core vote
PARIS, March 11, (RTRS): Former prime minister
Alain Juppe on Friday threw his support behind Francois Fillon’s French presidential bid, hoping to heal party divisions days after he sharply criticized the conservative candidate in a speech.
Juppe, who was defeated by Fillon in the centerright primaries in November, had been seen by many conservatives as a potential ‘plan B’ after Fillon became embroiled in a scandal over his wife’s pay.
On Monday he ruled out taking Fillon’s place and a rebellion that was forming behind him fizzled out. “Even if just a passenger, I’m not jumping ship during the storm,” Juppe tweeted on Friday.
The move could help The Republicans come from behind in opinion polls by encouraging Juppe’s more centrist supporters to stick with the party rather than switch to the favorite, independent Emmanuel Macron.
Fillon now has a fine campaign line to tread because victory also depends on attracting voters away from the other leading candidate, Marine Le Pen, the far-right National Front leader.
Only two top candidates from a first round vote on April 23 will contest the second round on May 7. Opinion polls show Fillon coming third in the first round and Macron going on to become president.
Two polls on Friday showed Macron and Le Pen level in the first round vote with Fillon lagging well behind in third.
In his speech on Monday renouncing the chance to run, Juppe, the 71-year-old mayor of Bordeaux, had harsh words for Fillon, who expects to be placed under formal investigation over payments to his wife when he sees investigating magistrates on March 15.
Scandal
Juppe accused Fillon of wasting the strong lead his party was enjoying before the scandal broke, called him obstinate, and expressed disquiet at his attacks on the media and judiciary investigating the case.
Macron was campaigning on Thursday and Friday in Juppe’s territory in Bordeaux, where he hailed Juppe as “a great leader” and dismissed left-wing and right-wing politicians for trying to place him in either camp.
“We have to build a majority for this project. Don’t believe that the candidate of the left which is tearing itself apart can achieve it, but don’t believe that the National Front candidate can build a real majority,” Macron told a campaign rally.
Meanwhile, a new poll of French voter intentions on Saturday showed Macron solidifying his support and still likely to defeat candidate Le Pen in the May presidential run-off.
The BVA poll, published 43 days before the April 23 opening round, showed the independent centrist Macron scoring 26 percent, up 2 percentage points from a week earlier and five points in the last 15 days. He is now level with the far-right Le Pen.
Both remain well ahead of conservative Fillon, who is up 1 point to 20 percent, and appears to have stabilised after his support fell amid a scandal-tainted campaign.
That would send the two leaders into a May 7 playoff at the expense of all other round-one contenders, including Fillon, who was initially the consistent frontrunner as candidate of The Republicans.
As in all other polls to date, the poll showed Le Pen losing the run-off, in this case with 39 percent of the vote versus 61 percent for Macron.
The survey of 1,419 people also saw Macron, an ex-banker who is campaigning on a promise of a break from traditional left-right politics, also strengthening his core vote.
Among his supporters, some 56 percent are now certain to vote for him, up from 49 percent a week earlier. That is still well below Le Pen, whose backers are 83 percent sure of voting for her.