The two candidates for the presidential election next Sunday in France, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, will face each other on Wednesday evening in a televised debate which could prove decisive. The debate should last more than two hours.
The incumbent, 44-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron, came out on top in the first round on April 10 and leads opinion polls by a margin of between 3 and 13 percentage points. But her far-right opponent Marine Le Pen, who is 53, has narrowed the gap considerably since the last presidential election held five years ago, when she lost with 34% of the vote against 66% for Macron.
The two contenders for the Elysee Palace clashed in 2017 during a televised debate. Several observers had noticed that Ms Le Pen had seemed hesitant, searching for answers from notes piled up in front of her, and that she made mistakes on economic topics.
For his part, despite his lack of political experience, Mr. Macron seemed comfortable talking about all sorts of issues and able to delve into them.
Both candidates are trying to broaden their support ahead of Sunday’s vote. Many French people, especially among supporters of the left, still do not know if they will go to the polls.
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