French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron traded accusations and insults as they clashed over their vision of France's future, the euro and ways of fighting terrorism in an ill-tempered television debate.
Millions of viewers tuned in to watch the one-to-one between the centrist candidate Mr Macron and the far-right leader.
While Mr Macron claimed the far-right candidate was “unworthy” of holding the French presidency, Ms Le Pen accused her rival of “groveling” in front of big banks, the EU and sectarianism.
For Ms Le Pen, the two-and-a-half hour debate was a last major chance to persuade voters of the merits of her programme, which includes cracking down on illegal immigration, ditching the euro and holding a referendum on EU membership.
However, 63 per cent of viewers found Mr Macron more convincing than Ms Le Pen in the debate, according to a snap opinion poll by Elabe for BFMTV, reinforcing his status as favourite to win.
With just a small two-and-a-half metre table separating them the pair sparred over globalisation, the economy, security and the European Union.
As he aimed to show his knowledge on a number of issues on the economy and the labour market, Mr Macron repeatedly told Ms Le Pen to stop saying “idiocies” and “lies” and he accused her of not having a “serious” programme and making “no propositions whatsoever”.
His opponent meanwhile, played up his links with current president Francois Hollande, and she highlighted his former role as minister of the economy, as she sought to portray him as more of the same.
Accusing Mr Macron of being “a darling of the system” in her opening statement, she said he wanted to turn France “into a trading floor”.
"I'm the candidate of purchasing power," she told the former investment banker: "You are the candidate of buying up France."
She went on to accuse Mr Macron of being “complacent” on Islamic extremism, as she sought to portray herself as strong on security – one of the issues which has dominated the campaign.
She suggested Mr Macron was "waiting for an attack" rather than taking proactive measures.
Mr Macron replied that Ms Le Pen would lead France to civil war and give in to what Islamic extremists want by creating fear and infringing on the rights of Muslim residents.
Insisting he would make terrorism a priority and fight it on every front including on the internet, he added that closing the borders would not help to tackle the issue.
Ms Le Pen accused Mr Macron of “European extremism” and of seeking German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “blessing”.
“France will be steered by a woman, it will be me or it will be Ms Merkel,” she said.
Mr Macron said his rival was “proposing an exit from history” and said he would “build a strong euro and a strong european politic to serve the interest of France”.
On international relations, Mr Macron gave a hand to US President Donald Trump saying he will continue to work with the US and that France “needs a strong cooperation [with the US] to ensure its security”.
The former leader of the Front National said she will be best placed to hold talks with Russia, the US and Mr Trump and the UK as it prepares to leave the EU.
Mr Macron concluded by telling Ms Le Pen “France deserves better than you” after the far-right candidate used his conclusion to tear apart her rival’s project.
While their were two moderators – journalists Christophe Jakubyszyn and Nathalie Saint-Cricq – they were mostly removed from the debate as they struggled to be heard by the two candidates.
Observers on social media reacted to the lack of authority of the journalists in the television studio.
Michelle O’Neill tweeted: “The moderators cannot cope.”
Benjamin D also showed compassion to the journalist and tweeted: “Courage Nathalie.”
Llowett said: “Journalistes useless #rip #2017LeDebat”
This was the first time a candidate from the Front National debated in a head to head presidential debate with another candidate.
In 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen faced conservative Jacques Chirac in the second round of the election, Mr Chirac refused to take part in a debate.
For the first time since 1981, both candidates have agreed to be filmed when they were not speaking, making the exercise particularly demanding for both candidates.
