法总统候选人为反犹太漫画道歉

France's troubled conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon has apologized for his party's anti-Semitic tweet of rival Emmanuel Macron.

"The political battle is tough enough, but it must remain dignified," Fillon said Sunday. "I will not tolerate my party publishing caricatures that use the codes of anti-Semitic propaganda."

Fillon said he has always fought against such thinking and has asked Republican Party officials to take action against whomever was responsible.

The image tweeted Friday shows Macron with a hooked nose, a top hot, and cutting a cigar with a red sickle.

France's Vichy government which collaborated with the Nazis were notorious for using such cartoons during World War II.

Allegations of anti-Semitism is the latest of Fillon's problems.

He was once favored to win the French presidency, but now trails Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

His once thriving campaign has been damaged by a financial scandal in which he is accused of paying his wife huge sums of public money for a phony job as a parliamentary assistant. Fillon has denied wrongdoing.

The French newspaper Journal du Dimanche also reports Fillon accepted a gift of two suits from an exclusive French clothing shop which far exceeds the legal limit of donations for presidential candidates.

The first round of the election is set for April 23, followed by a runoff for the top two finishers two weeks later.

法国陷入困境的保守派总统候选人菲永为他的政党在推特上发表反犹太人漫画攻击竞选对手马克龙而表示道歉。

菲永星期天说，“政治斗争已经够艰难，但它必须保持尊严。”他说，“我不会容忍我的政党发表的漫画中使用反犹太主义宣传代码。”

菲永说，他一直反对这种想法，并已经要求共和党官员对责任者采取行动。

星期五在推特上发表的图片显示，马克龙有鹰钩鼻，戴礼帽，用一把红色镰刀在切雪茄。

法国在第二次世界大战期间与纳粹合作的维希政府就以使用这样的漫画臭名昭著。

被控反犹太主义是菲永面临的最新问题。

他曾经是赢得法国总统的热门人选，但现在落在马克龙和极右翼候选人勒庞之后。

他一度生机勃勃的竞选由于他被控以议会助理的假工作为名付给妻子大笔公共资金的财务丑闻而受到破坏。菲永否认有违法行为。

法国报纸还报道，菲永接受了来自法国专卖店赠送的两件衣服，价值远远超过了对总统候选人获得捐赠的法定限额。

法国总统第一轮选举定于4月23日举行，在那两周之后将是前两名候选人的对决。