French presidential candidate Francois Fillon suffered new blows to his scandal-hit campaign, while veteran conservative Alain Juppe stood ready to replace him in the race.
Fillon's spokesman and campaign manager quit and the leader of a small centrist party confirmed it was withdrawing its backing over an expenses scandal.
Pressure has been building on the rightwing former prime minister, who turns 63 today, since he revealed this week that he is to be charged over allegations he paid his wife Penelope hundreds of thousands of euros for fake parliamentary jobs.
The 71-year-old Juppe, also an ex-premier and a one-time foreign minister, was beaten by Fillon in the conservative primary in November after beginning the contest as a clear favourite.
Juppe has kept a low profile since. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has taken the lead in opinion polls and centrist Emmanuel Macron has also benefited from Fillon's woes.
With the March 17 deadline for the collection of signatures necessary to launch a candidacy fast approaching, a member of Juppe's entourage told AFP he was prepared to take over -- under certain conditions.
Juppe "will not refuse if all the conditions are met -- Francois Fillon has to take the decision to pull out himself and the rightwing and centre camps... Have to be united behind him", the unnamed source said.
The leader of the centrist UDI party said it was definitively withdrawing its support for Fillon after it suspended its backing on Wednesday.
"We ask the Republicans (Fillon's party) to change candidate and if they do not, we will not be able to continue our alliance," UDI leader Jean-Christophe Lagarde told Ouest France newspaper.
Fillon has been hit by a stream of defections, with his campaign manager Patrick Stefanini announcing Friday evening that he was quitting, following the departure earlier in the day of his spokesman Thierry Solere.
They join a growing list which includes two deputy directors, the campaign treasurer and foreign affairs point man Bruno Le Maire.
One opinion poll yesterday showed that Juppe -- who is viewed as more centrist than Fillon -- would go straight into the lead if he took over.
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