A veteran French centrist politician on Wednesday dropped out of the race for the presidency to form an alliance with independent candidate Emmanuel Macron - a potential game-changer in France's tightly contested election, reports Reuters.
The announcement by Francois Bayrou, 65, a former education minister who has run for president three times and polled 9 percent of the vote when he stood in 2012, could tip the odds in favour of Macron getting into a runoff against far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
"We are in an extremely risky situation, and to tackle this exceptional situation, I think we need an exceptional response," said Bayrou, referring to a political campaign that has been marked by scandals and upsets in which several big names have disappeared.
"I have decided to offer Emmanuel Macron an alliance. The danger is too big we must change things," he told a news conference, describing his decision as a "sacrifice".
In a statement to Reuters, Macron said he accepted the alliance, which he labelled as a "turning point in the campaign".
Macron, a 39-year-old ex-banker and comparative political novice who has never held elected office, says he seeks to transcend the classic left-right divide in French politics and is drawing huge crowds to rallies that easily equal those of his closest rivals.
The election is held in two stages on April 23rd with a runoff vote between the top two candidates on May 7th.
Opinion polls put Macron neck-and-neck with conservative François Fillon, a former prime minister, to get into the runoff against Le Pen, head of the anti-immigrant and anti-European Union Front National.
Fillon, 62, was once the frontrunner to win election but his campaign has been hit hard by a scandal over salaries paid to his wife and children out of public funds for work they may not have carried out. He says they did carry out the work for which they were paid.
Surveys say either Macron and Fillon would then go onto to beat Le Pen in the knockout run-off.
Bayrou's announcement of support for Macron pushed the euro up against the dollar and French bond yields, which had risen because of fears of rising support for Le Pen, fell about 5 basis points.
In a further twist in an election campaign marked by scandals and upsets, police meanwhile detained Le Pen's bodyguard and chief of staff in custody for questioning over alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants, Le Pen's lawyer said.
She has denied any wrongdoing.
The bodyguard, Thierry Légier, and Catherine Griset are key figures in the probe which followed demands by the European Parliament that Le Pen repay money she is accused of wrongly paying the two.
Wary that her image and lead position in opinion polls might equally be hurt, Le Pen said she was convinced voters would not fall for moves designed to derail her and her campaign.