{"id":312667,"date":"2017-04-21T06:55:47","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T06:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=312667"},"modified":"2017-04-21T06:55:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T06:55:47","slug":"france-presidential-candidates-in-last-tv-pitch-ahead-of-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/04\/france-presidential-candidates-in-last-tv-pitch-ahead-of-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"France Presidential candidates in last TV pitch ahead of vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">All 11 French presidential candidates have made their final pitches in the last set-piece TV encounter ahead of Sunday&#8217;s first round of voting.<\/p>\n<p>Both far-right leader Marine Le Pen and radical leftist Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon voiced sharp criticism of the EU in the early part of the programme.<\/p>\n<p>The TV encounter was then overshadowed by a deadly shooting in central Paris.<\/p>\n<p>Centrist Emmanuel Macron and centre-right Fran\u00e7ois Fillon both paid tribute to the police targeted by a gunman.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Macron said &#8220;the first duty of a president was to protect&#8221; citizens, while Mr Fillon said he was cancelling all his campaigning events on Friday, the final day of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Le Pen said she was doing likewise.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_312669\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-312669\" style=\"width: 624px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?attachment_id=312669\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-312669\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-312669\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Francois-Fillon.jpg\" alt=\"Francois Fillon\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-312669\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francois Fillon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Opinion polls suggest a tight race with some 30% of voters still undecided.<\/p>\n<p>It is turning out to be the most unpredictable election in generations in France and the programme is a last chance for all of them to speak to the nation, the BBC&#8217;s Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Le Pen and Mr Macron are seen as frontrunners to progress to the second round in May.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_312670\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-312670\" style=\"width: 624px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?attachment_id=312670\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-312670\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-312670\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Beno\u00eet-Hamon.jpg\" alt=\"benoit-hamon\" width=\"624\" height=\"415\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-312670\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benoit Hamon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, Mr Fillon of the centre-right Republican party and Mr M\u00e9lenchon are also in the frame.<\/p>\n<p>The candidates drew lots to establish the order of speakers, with Mr M\u00e9lenchon coming first. Each candidate was interviewed individually for 15 minutes.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">&#8216;Change or leave&#8217;<\/h4>\n<p>Ms Le Pen said she wanted to &#8220;give back to the French the keys of the house&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>As she delivered her line, she dangled a key before viewers.<\/p>\n<p>She called for withdrawal from the euro &#8220;to restore competitiveness&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>On terrorism, a major concern for France after attacks claimed by so-called Islamic State, she said &#8220;hate-preaching imams&#8221; and foreigners who are on a police security watch list should be expelled.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?attachment_id=312671\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-312671\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-312671\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Jean-Luc-M\u00e9lenchon.jpg\" alt=\"jean-luc-melenchon\" width=\"660\" height=\"439\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When Mr M\u00e9lenchon was asked if France should leave the EU, he replied: &#8220;We change it or we leave it.&#8221; He said he believed in an &#8220;independent France orientated towards peace&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about his controversial tax plans, he said: &#8220;We are actually going to tax incomes above 400,000 euros [\u00a3335,000; $429,000] a year at 90%&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Beno\u00eet Hamon, the candidate of the ruling Socialist party who has plummeted to fifth place in the polls, attacked austerity, saying the European project was under threat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am the only candidate who will improve employees&#8217; pay slips,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All 11 French presidential candidates have made their final pitches in the last set-piece TV encounter ahead of Sunday&#8217;s first round of voting. Both far-right leader Marine Le Pen and radical leftist Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon voiced sharp criticism of the EU in the early part of the programme. The TV encounter was then overshadowed by a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[6392,6393,6394],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>France Presidential candidates in last TV pitch ahead of vote - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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