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Poll says scandal-hit Fillon to be eliminated in first round of French election

Xinhua, February 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

French conservative party contender Francois Fillon, the favorite candidate to win the presidential election until last week, is now predicted to be eliminated in the first round after allegations over his wife's fake job hurt his bid, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

An Elabe poll for Les Echos business daily showed Fillon trailing in voting intentions behind the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, both expected to meet in the contest on May 7.

For the first round of the presidential election scheduled for April 23, the former prime minister is set to collect up to 20 percent of the vote, down by six points from a previous score.

Anti-immigrant campaigner Le Pen is seen winning the first round by between 26 to 27 percent of voting intentions, up by three percent, against Macron's 23 percent.

In an election run-off, the centrist former economy minister would beat Le Pen by 65 percent against 35 percent, according to the survey.

In one scenario, Elabe said Fillon would pass the first round and would also beat Le Pen by 59 to 41 percent.

The poll was conducted on Jan. 30 and 31 after a satirical weekly claimed Fillon had paid his wife and two of his five children about one million euros (1.08 million U.S. dollars) for their jobs as parliamentary assistants for jobs they didn't do.

On Tuesday, investigators searched French parliament as part of an inquiry into possible "misuse of public funds" and "misappropriation of assets" relating to Fillon's wife's "fictitious" job.

According to media reports, no material evidence including an access badge and specific emails when she was a parliamentary assistant were found during the raid.

Under French law, it's legal for lawmakers to hire family members as their assistants but it's illegal to pay them for a fictitious job. (1 euro=1.08 U.S. dollars) Endit