LAST UPDATE | 21 Apr 2022
VOTERS HAVE SAID that French President Emmanuel Macron won last night’s bristling election debate against Marine Le Pen.
A poll for BFMTV / L’Express found that 59% of people thought Macron was the winner of the debate, with 39% responding that Le Pen was the winner.
The poll also found that Macron was both more sincere (36% of voters), and more arrogant (50% of voters).
In last night’s 2.5 hour debate, Macron attacked his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen over her ties to Russia and her suspicion of the European Union in a play for the votes he needs to win another five-year term.
In their only televised debate before voters have their say in Sunday’s run-off, Macron sought to portray Le Pen as fundamentally untrustworthy, accusing her of dishonesty in her election promises, while she sought to keep the focus on the government’s performance.
Le Pen, whom Macron beat in the last presidential election five years ago, is doing better in polls this time although she still trails the incumbent president.
Le Pen’s Russian loan
Macron was particularly vocal in his criticism of a loan taken out by Le Pen’s party in 2014 from a Russian-Czech bank. He said that debt meant that, if elected president, Le Pen’s hands would be tied when dealing with the Kremlin.
“You are dependent on the Russian government and you are dependent on Mr [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Macron said. “When you speak to Russia you are speaking to your banker, that’s the problem.”
“You made a choice which, obviously, acted as a constraint on your political position and does not make you independent on that issue. That is a fact,” Macron said.
Macron also referred to Le Pen’s past recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. “Why did you do this?” he asked.
Le Pen replied that she was “an absolutely and totally free woman”, arguing that her party had only taken that loan as it could not find financing in France where banks refused to lend to her.
Hijab
The most explosive clash came when Le Pen confirmed she was sticking to her controversial policy of banning the wearing of the Islamic headscarf by women in public, describing it as a “uniform imposed by Islamists”.
Macron responded: “You are going to cause a civil war if you do that. I say this sincerely.”
She also vowed to put an end to “anarchic and massive” immigration into France, claiming it was worsening crime which she said was becoming “unbearable” for people all over the country.
Macron and finance
She sought to put heat on the president, mocking how the “Mozart of finance” had left a “bad” economic legacy that included an extra €600 billion in national debt.
“It’s not Gerard Majax (on TV) this evening,” retorted Macron, referring to a well-known French television conjurer. “You never explain how you will finance your projects and you are not honest with people.”
Turning to Europe, Le Pen insisted she wanted to stay in the European Union but reform the bloc into an “alliance of nations”.
“Your policy is to leave Europe,” Macron responded, describing the election as a “referendum for or against the EU”.
There were also intense exchanges on daily concerns such as the rising cost of living, which Le Pen has made a major feature of her campaign.
Le Pen said she had seen people “suffering” over the first five years of Macron’s rule and that “another choice is possible”.
Macron replied that “we must and should improve people’s daily lives through major projects for the school and health systems”.
The big debate
Both candidates had prepared carefully for last night’s debate.
But Le Pen made an inauspicious start: Having been picked to speak first, she started off before the debate’s opening jingle had finished playing. Inaudible because of the music, she had to stop and start again. She apologised.
Once the jousting began, Macron quickly put Le Pen on the defensive. He zeroed in on her voting record as a lawmaker and questioned her grasp of economic figures.
In 2017, a similar debate struck a decisive blow to her campaign.
Macron, a pro-European centrist, emerged ahead from the 10 April first round and is leading in opinion polls.
But Le Pen, an anti-immigration nationalist who has gained ground this year by tapping anger over inflation, has significantly narrowed the gap in public support compared to 2017, when she lost with 34% of the vote to Macron’s 66%.
Both candidates need to broaden support before Sunday’s final vote. Many French, especially on the left, say they still do not know whether they will even go to the polls.
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