French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign took a step forward on Jan. 29 as the Socialist party chose a champion with a hard-left agenda and the center right battled to contain a scandal over fake pay.
Thousands of supporters gave embattled conservative candidate Francois Fillon and his wife, Penelope, a rousing ovation at a rally in a show of support after his campaign was thrown off track by allegations of misuse of public funds relating to employment she carried out.
