Last key moment of the campaign, the televised debate between the two rounds takes place on Wednesday April 20 at 9 p.m., opposing the outgoing president, Emmanuel Macron, to the candidate of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen. This tradition of French politics is much commented on abroad: “It’s a medieval duel, almost”, says journalist Ana Navarro Pedro, correspondent in France for the Portuguese press. “On attend du sang, she continues, theater ! We wait for one candidate to come out standing and the other on the ground. And when the debates do not live up to this expectation, there is disappointment among the French.
Will the Macron-Le Pen debate, with a poster similar to that of 2017, derogate from the rule? In any case, it marks the final stage of a half-hearted campaign, shortened by a late candidacy from Emmanuel Macron and relegated to the background by the war in Ukraine. This time, the president-candidate will have to answer for his record, which Marine Le Pen will not fail to “throw in his face”, predicts Richard Werly, correspondent in France for the Swiss newspaper The weather and author of France against itself. With notably “yellow vests, the pandemic, the absence of masks [au début de la crise sanitaire]”.
Fatale arrogance ?
However, the head of state can count on an advantage, argues Werly: “He will be able to explain what it is to preside over France and remind the French of the constraints he has experienced: the economic and international crises, the war in Ukraine.” Provided, of course, not to be arrogant, nuance the journalist. A potential weak point for the outgoing president, who agrees the two foreign journalists. Ana Navarro Pedro: “Emmanuel Macron has tired the French for five years by explaining that it is he who knows”.
The challenge for Marine Le Pen, who was criticized for her unpreparedness on several subjects during the 2017 debate, will be to try to convince the French of her ability to govern the country. Either way, the debate is on. “bleeding”, predicts the Portuguese journalist. Not sure, however, that it is enough to change the situation, four days before a very polarized ballot.