The final presidential debate before the vote on Sunday had 11 candidates and lasted more than three hours on Thursday night.
The format was 15 minutes of an interview with France 2 journalists David Pujadas and Léa Salamé. Each candidate then had 2 minutes and 30 seconds for a conclusion.
During the debate, news came of a terrorist attack on Paris’ Champs-Elysees where a lone gunman shot dead a policeman and wounded two others.
While there was, of course, the usual politician-speak, some of the six outsider candidates, which include a former shepherd, a car mechanic and a teacher, provided a bit of diversity to the night.
Here’s a quick look at the 11 candidates and what they talked about during the debate.
First up: The front-runners
Emmanuel Macron
Currently the front-runner. Former Socialist Party, former investment banker. Centrist. Founded En Marche! (In Motion)
Promises to bring a new generation to power. Wife is 24 years his senior; they met when he was a high school student and she a teacher and married mother of three *. Age 39, if elected he would be the youngest French president since Napoleon.
Debate: Claimed he’s the only candidate who can guarantee the security of the French state.
Marine Le Pen
Leader of the far-right party, Front National. Succeeded more radical father Jean-Marie as party leader in 2011.
Anti-EU, anti-immigration, campaigns for tighter border control and praised Trump’s travel ban.
Debate: Referendum on EU. Mentioned fundamental Islamists/terrorism Islamist four times during her two and a half minute conclusion.
Why she could win- check out this post.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon
Former Socialist Party, left in 2008 to found the Left Party. Surprise appeal among young voters due to the use of YouTube and holograms at rallies.
Debate: Peace, take France out of Nato. “We want to rid France of its presidential monarchy.”
Benoît Hamon
Socialist Party. Former cabinet minister. From Brittany. Was one of the favourites to win at the beginning of the campaign, but support has waned.
Debate: Message of optimism. Urged the French people to vote for, instead of against, a sixth French Republic, future for your grandchildren.
Francois Fillon
Former French prime minister in Sarkozy’s government. Conservative. Campaign damaged by “Penelopegate”, named after his wife who was paid in a fake jobs scandal. Allegations of gifts of luxury clothing bring back memories of “bling-bling” Sarko.
Debate: Admitted mistakes. Promises change. Criticised for sexism when asked a question by Salamé. He dismissed the question saying it had been asked 20 times already and that she didn’t know because of her absence – she had been on maternity leave.
Next: The outsiders
Jean Lassalle
Former shepherd. Mayor of the village of Lourdios- Ichere for 40 years. He once sang in parliament to protest the closure of a police s
tation and went on hunger strike to stop a local factory closing down.
Four years ago he set off to walk across France for eight months to meet the “forgotten” French.
Debate: Pull troops out of the Middle East and north Africa and instead invest in fighting cyber crime. Go back to De Gaulle’s vision of Europe.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan
Conservative. Mayor of Yerres, a suburb of Paris. Formerly of U.M.P. Wants to restore France’s “sovereignty”.
Philippe Poutou
New Anti-Capitalist Party. Works at the Ford factory in Bordeaux. Stole the spotlight in the previous debate when he said she could use her political immunity from police investigating EU funds corruption but there is no immunity for the working class.
Debate: Wants to end greed and corruption in politics.
Jacques Cheminade
Solidarity and Progress party. This is his third run for the presidency.
Debate: “Finance is a poison for the world.” Wants observatories in every county and a choir in every classroom. Promises to invest €100billion in schools and hospitals and cancel France’s debt.
Nathalie Arthaud
Workers’ Struggle party. Trotskyist. Schoolteacher. She and Poutou say they are the only ones with normal jobs (he’s a mechanic).
Francois Asselineau
Former tax inspector. In favour of a Frexit. Accuses the media of censorship.
Update 30/4/17 – * my reference to the age gap is not because Macron’s wife is older than him – it’s comment on their teacher – student status when their relationship began
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