Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron clashed over their vision of France's future, the euro and ways of fighting terrorism in an ill-tempered televised debate on Wednesday before Sunday's run-off vote for the presidency.
The two went into the debate with opinion polls showing Macron, 39, with a strong lead of 20% over the National Front's Le Pen, 48, in what is widely seen as France's most important election in decades.
French presidential election candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron ahead of their last televised debate on May 3, 2017. /CFP Photo
For Le Pen, the two-and-a-half hour debate, watched by millions, was a last major chance to persuade voters of the merits of her program which includes cracking down on illegal immigration, ditching the euro single currency and holding a referendum on EU membership.
A poll by the Elabe group for the BFM channel immediately afterwards showed that 63% of people interviewed found Macron the most convincing versus 34% for Le Pen.
Macron would win around 59% to 41% if the vote were held now, surveys suggest, but previous debates during the roller-coaster French campaign have shifted public opinion.
A photo illustration shows a French voter's registration card near posters of the candidates in the 2017 French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron, and Marine Le Pen in Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon, France, May 3, 2017. /CFP Photo
In angry exchanges, Le Pen played up Macron's background as a former investment banker and economy minister, painting him as heir to the outgoing unpopular Socialist government and as the "candidate of globalization gone wild."
He savaged her flagship policy of abandoning the euro, calling it a fatal plan that would unleash a currency war, and he accused her of failing to offer solutions to France's economic problems such as chronic unemployment.
The barbs at times were personal. Macron called Le Pen a "parasite" and a liar, and Le Pen labelled him a "smirking banker" and - in a reference to his youthful looks - said: "You are young on the outside, but old on the inside."
In a final put-down, when Le Pen attempted to interrupt his summing-up, Macron told Le Pen: "You stay on TV. I want to be president of the country."
(Source: Agencies)
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