Just weeks out from the first round of voting in the French elections and centrist candidate Macron and far-right candidate Le Pen stand neck and neck in the polls. However, in the latest televised debate, Le Pen fell far behind.
Candidates Clash in Live Debate
The debate saw 11 candidates debating over four hours and has been described as a “free for all”. Including in the debate alongside the 5 main candidates were six “little” candidates who score between 0.5% and 4% in the polls. This made for an extremely interesting event where the main candidates came under attack from the candidates who were deemed to have “nothing to lose”.
Phillip Poutou, head of the New Anti-Capitalist Party, attacked Le Pen saying that the far-right candidate seemed to think that being anti-European made it acceptable to steal EU money. He also criticised her for using her immunity as an MEP to refuse to address police enquiries regarding the use of EU funds to pay party workers. Francois Fillon also came under attack from the Trotskyist Poutou who chastised him over scandals involving falsified payments to his wife, accusing Fillon of “dipping into the till”.
Poutou was not the only “little” candidate to attack Le Pen. Retired civil servant Francois Asselineau, criticised Le Pen for intending to waste time negotiating and holding a referendum to leave the Euro and the EU. Asselineau said he would immediately invoke Article 50 and promised the fastest possible “Frexit”. Asselineau asserted that France gives the EU EUR23billion and receives only EUR14billion in return.
The least scathed “big” candidate of the debate was Macron who seemed hurt only by Asselineau’s comment that he “always agrees with everybody”. The centrist candidate stood in defence of the EU and claimed to “carry Europe in his heart”.
Read more: https://www.orbex.com/blog/2017/04/french-elections-update-le-pen-fire-live-debate/