Macron and Le Pen clash in TV presidential election debate

Emmanuel Macron

Four days before France votes on its next president, the two remaining candidates have gone head to head in their only televised debate.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has fallen behind centrist Emmanuel Macron in the opinion polls but millions of voters are still undecided.

Marine Le Pen

It did not take long for the two-hour-45-minute clash to burst into life.

The two candidates confronted each other on the cost of living, Russia, climate change and immigration.

Spiralling prices of energy and at the shops have dominated the campaign and immediately took centre stage in the debate, broadcast on the two biggest TV networks as well as the big news channels.

Emmanuel Macron was widely seen as the winner of the 2017 debate, when his rival appeared flustered and underprepared. But this time, Marine Le Pen was ready from the start and far more composed.

Throughout the debate, it was Mr Macron who went on the offensive, appearing more like a challenger than an incumbent, repeatedly interrupting his rival.

Ms Le Pen said 70% of the French people believed their standard of living had fallen over the past five years and she would be the president of civil peace and national brotherhood. "We need to give priority to the French in their own country," she said.

Mr Macron said France had known unprecedented crisis, with Covid followed by war in Europe. He had steered France through those challenges and aimed to make France a stronger country: Sunday's vote was a "referendum on Europe, on secularism, and a moment of clear choice", he said.

Despite a strong performance from Ms Le Pen, a poll of voters from French broadcaster BFMTV and newspaper L'Express suggested Mr Macron had come out the winner. The vote, carried out by well-known pollsters Elabe, suggests that 59% of viewers were more convinced by Mr Macron.

The sitting president came out on top as the most presidential, 53% to 29% - but 50% of viewers also said he had come across as arrogant. Ms Len Pen was deemed to be more in tune with normal people (37% to Macron's 34%), but 50% of voters also found her "worrying".

Significance of debate

Televised confrontations between the top two candidates have been a highlight of French presidential elections for almost five decades and they have proved most decisive when the polls are close.

In 1974, conservative Valéry Giscard d'Estaing went on to beat Socialist François Mitterrand after performing well in their debate. Mitterrand did better in the rematch in 1981 and won the run-off vote.

This was the first time since then that the same candidates have squared off in two consecutive elections.

The 2017 debate was a disaster for Ms Le Pen that led to a big election defeat. This time around the race is much closer and her strong performance could help win over undecided voters.

The gap in the opinion polls has widened slightly since the first round vote in which the incumbent president won 27.85% and Ms Le Pen came second with 23.15%. But they are still fluctuating wildly, suggesting Mr Macron will secure between 53% and 57% of the vote.

What the candidates stand for

The choice for voters is far clearer than five years ago, when Emmanuel Macron won with very little experience as a politician.

His strict Covid policies alienated many voters and he has been accused of acting as a "president for the rich". He is more popular in the big cities but has secured the support of other mainstream left and right parties for his pro-EU liberal and global outlook.

Marine Le Pen has toned down her nationalist, anti-EU rhetoric during the campaign but as she made clear in the debate her aim remains to revise France's relationship with the European Union. - BBC News