Presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen faced late Wednesday night in the only live TV debate that didn’t have as clear a winner as it did five years ago.
The French excited in the evening in front of the TV screens after the central liberal Emmanuel Macron and the far right Marine Le Pen argued about politics for a couple of hours. The only direct election debate was known to be of great importance, as there are still a large number of uncertain voters and there is a smaller gap in support between candidates than in 2017.
Seated President Emmanuel Macron is a pre-election favorite and performed with confidence. He successfully sued Le Pen, especially over a loan he received from a Russian bank in 2015.
– You are dependent on the Russian regime and Mr Putin, Macron said.
Le Pen replied that he was defending only the French interest, but was clearly nervous about the accusations. The chairman of the far right was clearly more tense than Macron, especially in the early part of the debate, and was repeatedly on the defensive.
The failure of the election debate in France has often resolved even the entire presidential election. Marine Le Pen’s presidential dream was estimated to have failed in the 2017 election just for this pre-second round debate, in which he seemed unnecessarily aggressive and mixed with his notes.
This time, Le Pen was better prepared. According to the assistants, the president of the National Alliance had dedicated the 48 hours before the debate solely to preparing for it and refused all campaign events. Le Pen mastered the facts better this time and sought to paint a picture of Macron as an elitist detached from the daily lives of its citizens.
Marine Le Pen challenged Macron, for example, about the retirement age the incumbent president has wanted to raise from 62 to 65 years. Le Pen has promised to lower his retirement age, but Macron accused his plan of being unrealistic.
Emmanuel Macron sought to criticize Le Pen at all for the vulgarities of this election program, and the far-right chairman was unable to answer the questions in great detail.
Both candidates are trying to address left-wing voters in particular, who have been left homeless. Le Pen blamed free trade and the global economic system for emissions that destroy the climate, and also highlighted the long journeys of animals and the suffering they caused to farm animals.
Macron defended his government’s investment in wind power and accused Le Pen of being a climate skeptic, to which Le Pen responded by naming the president a “climate shrine”.
Seated President Emmanuel Macron reassured him over the course of the debate with good control over the details, but at times committed guilt, i.e. arrogance. Macron sometimes seemed very depressed when he taught Le Pen about financial figures and questioned the answers of the far-right leader.
The debate still went much more smoothly than the encounter between Macron and Le Pen five years ago. However, there was less clear winner in this debate. Macron dominated the debate, but not as overwhelmingly as in 2017.
According to the latest polls, 13 per cent of French people are still wondering which candidate will vote in the second round of voting on Sunday. The TV debate may not have provided them with a decisive answer.