Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will go head to head in a live TV debate on Wednesday night that could prove crucial in making up the minds of undecided voters four days before the French presidential runoff. The high-stakes, two-and-a-half-hour confrontation, the only direct clash between the two candidates, has been a tradition of French presidential campaigns since 1974, often confirming or dashing electoral ambitions. With recent polls giving Macron a lead of up to 12 points before Sunday’s vote, Le Pen will be keen not to reproduce the poorly prepared, muddled and aggressive performance that sealed her eventual defeat in 2017. “The debate was a failure for which I paid a very heavy price,” Le Pen admitted last month, vowing not to make the same mistakes twice. A draw has determined that Le Pen will speak first, and Macron will have the last word.

Source: The Guardian April 20, 2022 18:48 UTC