PARIS, France — This evening the two French presidential candidates, anti-mass migration Front National candidate Marine Le Pen and pro-European Union globalist Emmanuel Macron face off in the only televised debate of the second round of the presidential race.
The debate marks the first and only televised exchange between the two candidates. In the first round of the presidential elections on April 23rd, globalist pro-European Union candidate Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! won with 24.01 percent of the vote and anti-mass migration Front National candidate Marine Le Pen came in second with 21.3 percent.
After a week and a half of campaigning, Ms Le Pen has steadily been closing in on the lead of Mr Macron. Many have blamed a lacklustre start to his campaign and the incident at the Whirlpool factory in Amiens last week for Macron’s slide in the polls. Many believe a strong performance from Le Pen could close the gap even further.
This evening both candidates will debate a number of issues in an attempt to try and motivate undecided and apathetic voters. Many voters of former conservative republican candidate Francois Fillon and far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon still remain unconvinced by either candidate.
There has already been some controversy going into the debate as Macron has reportedly threatened to leave the debate after half an hour if Le Pen uses him as a “punching bag” according to Camille Langlade of French broadcaster BFMTV.