{"id":316336,"date":"2017-05-04T06:06:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T06:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=316336"},"modified":"2017-05-04T06:06:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T06:06:01","slug":"french-election-macron-most-convincing-in-final-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=316336","title":{"rendered":"French election: Macron ‘most convincing’ in final debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was more impressive than rival Marine Le Pen in Wednesday evening’s final TV debate, a viewers’ poll says.<\/p>\n

The candidates traded insults for more than two hours, arguing over terrorism, the economy, and Europe.<\/p>\n

The French broadcaster BFMTV found voters had a more favourable view of Mr Macron than Ms Le Pen in most categories.<\/p>\n

He was the “most convincing” of the pair in the opinion of 63% of viewers.<\/p>\n

Ms Le Pen lambasted her rival for his finance and government background, accusing him of being “the candidate of savage globalisation” and said his version of France “is a trading room, where it will be everyone fighting for themselves”.<\/p>\n

In turn, Mr Macron said the National Front leader had openly lied, proposed nothing, and exaggerated the concerns of the public.<\/p>\n

“The high priestess of fear is sitting before me,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Emmanuel<\/span><\/figure>\n
<\/figure>\n

Both candidates were hoping to make an impression on the estimated 18% of undecided voters in the first election the country has ever held without a candidate from the two traditional mainstream parties.<\/p>\n

The second round run-off between the pair takes place on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Analysis: Hugh Schofield, BBC Paris correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

This turned into a tense, at times incendiary exchange between two leaders with starkly opposing ideas about the road France needs to take.<\/p>\n

Marine Le Pen, who lags badly in the opinion polls, had clearly decided that the best tactic was to launch a full-frontal attack on Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/span>
The event’s moderators largely let events run their course without interference<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Constantly throughout the debate she threw insults and allegations at him, accusing him of being part of the discredited existing order.<\/p>\n

But there was little substance to her attacks, and over and again Emmanuel Macron was able to expose the weaknesses in her arguments – especially over the economy and the euro.<\/p>\n

The debate will have done nothing to alter his position as clear favourite in Sunday’s vote.<\/p>\n

\n

The BFMTV poll found that Mr Macron was deemed the “most convincing” during the television debate for two-thirds of those who voted for both left-wing candidate Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon in the first round, and for 58% of those who voted for Republican Fran\u00e7ois Fillon.<\/p>\n

Mr Macron also led among voters when they were asked about which candidate was most honest, most aligned with the voters’ values, and who had the best plans.<\/p>\n

It was carried out among 1,314 people over the age of 18 who watched the debate.<\/p>\n

Insults and issues<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Macron already enjoys a lead in the opinion polls, which predict he will pull in about 59% of votes.<\/p>\n

But Ms Le Pen hammered him on his record during the key debate.<\/p>\n

On unemployment, which stands at around 10% nationally, Mr Macron acknowledged that the country had not tackled the problem – and Ms Le Pen asked why he had not handled it during his recent time as economy minister.<\/p>\n

She also accused him of complacency about the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. “Security and terrorism are major issues that are completely missing from your programme,” she said.<\/p>\n

But in response, Mr Macron said the measures she proposed – “eradicating” Islamic fundamentalism by shutting down extremist mosques, and expelling preachers of hate – played into terrorists’ hands and the desire they have for a “a civil war”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/span><\/figure>\n

They also clashed on the future of the European Union, where they have clearly opposed views.<\/p>\n

Ms Le Pen has said she would call for an in-out referendum on EU membership, and in recent days declared the euro currency finished.<\/p>\n

During the debate, she said she would restore France’s national currency and give companies and banks an option on which currency to pay in – a proposal which Mr Macron labelled “nonsense”.<\/p>\n

“How can a big company pay in euros on one hand and pay its employees in another currency?” he asked.<\/p>\n

Wednesday night’s debate marked the last time the two candidates faced each other before Sunday’s vote.<\/p>\n

Just two days of campaigning remain before reporting restrictions come into force late on Friday evening – and remain in place until polls close on Sunday.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was more impressive than rival Marine Le Pen in Wednesday evening’s final TV debate, a viewers’ poll says. The candidates traded insults for more than two hours, arguing over terrorism, the economy, and Europe. The French broadcaster BFMTV found voters had a more favourable view of Mr Macron than Ms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":316338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-316336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}