François Fillon said he would stay on in the Presidential race and French Twitter went into meltdown

French presidential candidate François Fillon currently faces an inquiry over allegations that he paid his British wife Penelope at least €680,000 (£577,000) for a suspected fake parliamentary assistant job over the course of 15 years.

In a press conference, many expected Mr Fillon to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race after he said earlier that he would do so if placed under investigation.

Mr Fillon has staunchly denied any wrongdoing, saying his wife was paid for genuine work.

To say people were on the edge of their seats would be an understatement.

Hurry up my roast will burn

Despite the odds, he announced his intentions to remain as a candidate, and insists that the investigation is nothing more than an “assassination” of him and the French election.

Yes I will be a candidate for the presidential elections and we will fight this with force and to use all our force to win it and correct our mistakes.

It is not about my rights, my innocence, it is about democracy.

People on Twitter promptly lost it:

Basically what #Fillon said (like #MLP2017) is that the justice system in France is rotten and corrupt and so we don't have to respect it.

It's just exceptional, such selfishness, such a will to sink his party. A true rat, that Fillon.

At this stage, even my cat has a chance to be elected.

The 62-year-old former Prime Minister led in the French polls until the ‘PenelopeGate’ scandal broke in January.

Opinion polls currently put Fillon in third place, behind Marine Le Pen and centre-left Emmanuel Macron.

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