Macron goes hard in poll debate
French leader Emmanuel Macron and far-right rival Marine Le Pen made a final push for votes in France’s working-class heartlands after a pre-election debate the president was judged to have won.
The televised debate, a pivotal moment ahead of Sunday’s run-off vote, was marked by an aggressive performance from Macron, who lost no opportunity to attack his opponent throughout the marathon three-hour session.
Le Pen was more cautious, making every effort not to be ruffled to avoid a repeat of her flustered appearance in a 2017 debate against Macron widely derided as a fiasco and followed by Macron’s easy election victory.
But this time the margin looks far narrower. Le Pen is contending to be the first farright leader of France, and Macron the first French president to win a second term since Jacques Chirac in 2002.
A Le Pen victory would send shockwaves around the European Union, which she has vowed to radically reform.
Le Pen insisted she had “every chance” of winning the poll, condemning Macron’s attitude in the debate as “very scornful and very arrogant”.