Former prime minister Alain Juppe ruled himself out today as an alternative rightwing candidate for his party colleague Francois Fillon whose campaign has been thrown into chaos by a fake job scandal.
At a press conference in his hometown of Bordeaux, Juppe said that the election was being held in "confused" conditions but "I confirm for a final time that I will not be a candidate to be president of the republic."
He also criticised Fillon, whose defiance of the justice system and criticism of the media had "led him into a dead-end.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)