Conservative Francois Fillon promised on Wednesday to fight "to the end" in France's presidential election despite a deepening investigation into a financial scandal, but his campaign suffered a new blow as a top aide resigned. The former prime minister revealed that investigating magistrates had summoned him to appear before them on March 15 to be placed under formal investigation over allegations that he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros of public money to do very little work. In a defiant speech at his party headquarters, he repeated his denials of wrongdoing, complained of judicial and media bias amounting to a "political assassination," and appealed directly for the support of the French people. "It's not just me being assassinated. It's the presidential election," he said, flanked by senior party members, after a morning of speculation he was about to quit the race. "I put myself before the French people because it is their suffrage, and not a biased procedure, that should decide who should be the president of the republic of France. "I won't give in, I won't surrender, I won't pull out, I'll fight to the end." Fillon's stand came as opinion polls continued to show he would fail to make the second round of the April/May election, albeit by a narrow margin. They showed independent centrist Emmanuel Macron consolidating his status as favorite, followed by far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen. The risk premium demanded by investors to hold French 10-year government bonds over German ones shrank to a one-month low of 64 basis points, compared with 84 bps last week. Analysts said the latest developments should strengthen the position of Macron. "The word from Fillon is that he soldiers on regardless and that leaves Macron as the candidate most likely to win," said Societe Generale strategist Ciaran O'Hagan. French shares extended their gains after Fillon's statement, with the benchmark stock index rising 1.7 percent to around 4,944 points — the highest level since December 2015. Macron was dismissive of his rival's statement. "This is a sign of lost nerve or lost grip on reality. Everyone needs to keep hold of their senses," he said. In a new setback for Fillon, his key aide Bruno Le Maire resigned as his adviser on international affairs, saying the candidate had gone back on his word to withdraw from the election if he was placed under formal investigation. An Opinionway poll released at noon on Wednesday but conducted before the day's drama put Le Pen on 25 percent in the first round vote on April 23 and Macron on 24 percent, taking first and second places respectively. Fillon was on 21 percent, meaning he would be eliminated from the run-off between the top two candidates. The poll showed Macron going on to beat Le Pen in the second round with 63 percent of votes. "Opinon surveys in the coming days could be decisive," Jerome Fourquet of pollsters IFOP told Reuters, noting that large numbers of right and center voters had abandoned Fillon over the past few weeks and that winning them back might now be difficult. ING economist Julien Manceaux said in a research note that Fillon's stand was "unlikely to be sufficient in the eyes of public opinion. "Mr. Fillon is now the third man," he wrote. Le Pen also faces legal troubles, though this has had no obvious impact on her opinion poll standings to date. European Union lawmakers voted on Tuesday to lift her EU parliamentary immunity for tweeting pictures of Islamic State violence. Separately, her chief of staff was put under formal investigation just over a week ago over the alleged misuse of EU funds to pay parliamentary assistants. — Reuters
