Macron and Le Pen are firing on all cylinders before the second round

Four days before the second round of the French presidential election, the two finalists Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen crossed swords on Wednesday during an electric television debate, displaying their disagreements and clinging virulently to Russia, the European Union or the Islamic veil.

In the home stretch of the campaign, the outgoing president and the far-right candidate have, for more than 2 hours 45 minutes, played their all out to try to convince the undecided and the abstainers of the first round, in particular on the left, including the choice should be decisive in the polls next Sunday.

After a quick handshake and a brief smile upon their arrival on the set of TF1 and France 2, the two candidates launched the first hostilities which rose crescendo over the topics discussed during the evening. Aware of what is at stake, Marine Le Pen did not allow herself to be dismantled as during the previous debate in 2017. She worked throughout the exchanges to appear close to the people, affirming ” try to [s]put yourself in people’s shoes” – a thinly veiled criticism of his opponent, who has failed during his five-year term to rid himself of the label of “president of the rich”.
While assuming his balance sheet, Emmanuel Macron opposed him with many figures, accusing him of having a program having no “neither head nor tail”.

Russia

“I heard you with your government rejoice at having increased the purchasing power of the French, I only saw the French tell me that they were no longer able to do it”drew Marine Le Pen, before being ironic about “the Mozart of finance” to ” economic balance sheet which is very bad” and “a social balance sheet that is even worse”. reproaching him for not “live only from fear and resentment”the outgoing president also accused Marine Le Pen of wanting to push ” civil war “ with its project to ban the Islamic veil in public spaces.

Already lively on domestic political issues, the tone has risen a notch between the two adversaries at the mention of the conflict which has been raging in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24. “You were, I think, one of the first European politicians, as early as 2014, to recognize the result of the annexation of Crimea”denounced Emmanuel Macron, referring to the annexation not recognized by the international community of the Ukrainian peninsula by Moscow.

“Conspiracy”

“Why did you do it?” (…) Because you depend on Russian power and you depend on Vladimir Putin,” he added in an allusion to a loan of 9 million euros contracted in 2017 by the far-right party of Marine Le Pen with a Russian bank.

“I am an absolutely and totally free woman”retorted her rival, saying that no French bank had granted her a loan at the time and that she had “ no other dependence than repaying his loan”. “I support a free Ukraine that is not subject to the United States or the European Union or Russia, that is my position”she added.

The virulence of the exchanges continued on the question of the EU, Marine Le Pen denying the accusations according to which she would still like to get France out of the bloc. “I want to develop this European organization, but Emmanuel Macron, I did not think that you would fall into a form of conspiracy”quipped the candidate.

“You are not clear, your project when we put things back in place brick by brick, it is a project that does not say its name, but which consists in getting out of Europe”replied the President, making Sunday’s poll a ” referendum for or against Europe”.

Four days before the second round, uncertainty hangs over the upcoming vote of some left-wing voters, in particular those who voted for the radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon – who came third in the first round – who remain suspicious. or tempted to abstain.

If the debate does not usually upset the dynamics of voting intentions, it could this time remobilize certain electorates and “displace more votes than what we have observed since the beginning of the Fifth Republic” in 1958, according to Brice Teinturier, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ipsos polling institute.

Multiple discrepancies

Marine Le Pen“plays on proximity with people’s feelings, even if it means appearing simplistic” and Emmanuel Macron“brings it back to reality, even if it means appearing infected with arrogance and giving lessons”noted political scientist Chloé Morin on Twitter.

Two days before the end of the second round campaign, the polls invariably give the advantage to the outgoing president, with 54 to 56.5% of the voting intentions against 43.5 to 46% for the far-right candidate. A much tighter gap than in 2017 when Emmanuel Macron won with 66% of the vote.

Five years ago, Marine Le Pen had sunk live in front of the 16.5 million viewers of the debate, appearing aggressive and ill-prepared in the face of a young candidate then unknown, calm and in control of his files. But she patiently climbed the slope, worked on her files, softened her image, and prepared herself intensely for the debate. The outgoing president no longer has the advantage of freshness, and must defend the results of a criticized five-year term.

Besides international issues, the two candidates diverged on almost everything Wednesday evening, from retreats to ecology. On this last point, Emmanuel Macron accused Marine Le Pen of being “climate-skeptic“, the latter answering him that he was for his part“climatic hypocrite”.