Chris Nail | Anadolu | Getty Images
Francois Fillon gives a speech after he is chosen as the center-right’s candidate for president in 2017.
Former prime minister Alain Juppe on Friday backed Francois Fillon’s French presidential bid and became one of his sponsors, a bid to heal party divisions just days after he sharply criticized the conservative candidate in a speech.
Fillon already has over 1,000 sponsors, twice the number he needs under the rules, so Juppe’s sponsorship is symbolic.
It could, nevertheless, help the scandal-hit candidate come from behind in opinion polls, because backers of the more centrist Juppe are being courted by the favorite, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron – who was due to be campaigning on Juppe’s territory in Bordeaux later on Friday.
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 candidates contest the second round on May 7. Opinion polls show Fillon coming third in the April 23 first round and Macron going on to become president.
“Even if just a passenger, I’m not leaving the ship during the storm,” Juppe said on his Twitter account.
Juppe, who was defeated by Fillon in the center-right primaries in November, had until this week been seen by many conservatives as a potential ‘plan B’ after the 63-year-old Fillon became embroiled in a scandal over his wife’s pay.
