{"id":8841,"date":"2017-03-05T11:37:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T11:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/fillon-france-election-candidate-faces-crucial-test-in-paris-rally\/"},"modified":"2017-03-05T11:37:55","modified_gmt":"2017-03-05T11:37:55","slug":"fillon-france-election-candidate-faces-crucial-test-in-paris-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/fillon-france-election-candidate-faces-crucial-test-in-paris-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Fillon France election: Candidate faces crucial test in Paris rally"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figcaption>Media captionIs Mr Fillon finished in the presidential race?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">Supporters of scandal-hit French presidential candidate Francois Fillon are gathering for a rally in central Paris, in what is being seen as a crucial test of his popularity.<\/p>\n<p>Calls have been growing for him to quit over allegations he paid his wife and children for work they did not do.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Fillon has so far vowed to carry on, but in recent days several senior allies have deserted his campaign. <\/p>\n<p>His wife said on Saturday that she did carry out parliamentary work for him.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview for French magazine Journal du Dimanche (in French), Penelope Fillon said everything was &quot;legal and declared&quot; and he would have paid someone else to do it if she had not.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fillon payment inquiry: What you need to know<\/li>\n<li>I did do work - French candidate&#039;s wife<\/li>\n<li>Who are the French election candidates?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>His Republican party has brought forward crisis talks on the candidacy to Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The former prime minister has seen his popularity slip in opinion polls.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      Penelope Fillon has urged her husband to &quot;continue to the end&quot;                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The rally for Mr Fillon is due to start at 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT) at Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower.<\/p>\n<p>The BBC&#039;s Hugh Schofield in Paris says that if he can get a big turnout - 50,000 or more - then he may be able to argue that he has a bedrock of support among voters.<\/p>\n<p>But if the turnout is disappointing then the pressure for him to go may be too much, our correspondent adds.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Fillon tweeted (in French): &quot;At the Trocadero, we will demonstrate the strength of the popular will.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Hold on, like I&#039;m holding on. France deserves our courage!&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called on Mr Fillon to cancel the event.<\/p>\n<p>In a Facebook post (in French), she said that its real goal was to show opposition to the judiciary, the police and journalists who were seeking to &quot;bring to light the truth&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>A counter-demonstration, billed as a pot-banging rally against corruption by officials, is expected in the Place de la Republique, AFP reported.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>France&#039;s presidential election - everything you need to know<\/li>\n<li>Fillon clings on despite the odds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Speaking to supporters in Paris on Saturday as he marked his 63rd birthday, Mr Fillon said that those attacking him over his presidential bid were &quot;trying to kill a desire for change&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>The latest opinion polls suggest that he would be eliminated in the first round of presidential election voting on 23 April, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen and liberal Emmanuel Macron likely to progress to contest the election run-off on 7 May.<\/p>\n<p>A survey published in Journal du Dimanche (in French) suggests that 71% of those polled want Mr Fillon to step down. <\/p>\n<p>In another blow to Mr Fillon&#039;s campaign, his spokesman Thierry Solere became the latest member of the campaign team to announce his departure on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Fillon&#039;s woes have raised speculation that Alain Juppe, another former prime minister whom he overwhelmingly defeated in November&#039;s Republicans&#039; primary, could return to the race if he were to pull out.<\/p>\n<p><a rel='nofollow' href=http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-39171798 target=\"_blank\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media captionIs Mr Fillon finished in the presidential race? Supporters of scandal-hit French presidential candidate Francois Fillon are gathering for a rally in central Paris, in what is being seen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}