France's Fillon says will vote for Macron in presidential runoff

Conservative French presidential candidate Francois Fillon, who failed on Sunday to qualify for the runoff, urged voters to back centrist Emmanuel Macron, saying far-right leader Marine Le Pen would bankrupt France if elected.

"There is no other choice but to vote against the far right, I will vote for Emmanuel Macron," Fillon told supporters after early projections indicated that Macron and Le Pen had made it into the May 7 runoff after a first round of voting on Sunday.

An early favourite in the campaign, Fillon struggled to recover ground lost after allegations emerged in the press that he had used public funds to pay family members for work they had not done.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)