Macron, Le Pen face off in high stakes election debate

French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen faced off on Wednesday evening in their only debate ahead of Sunday's presidential election.

French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen faced off on Wednesday evening in their only debate ahead of Sunday's presidential election. For Le Pen, who lags Macron in voter surveys, the much awaited confrontation is a chance to persuade voters she has the stature to be president and they should not fear seeing the far-right in power.

"For the past five years I have seen (the French people) suffer, worry, and I want to say that another choice is possible," Le Pen said at the start of the debate. "I will be the president of the cost of living ... I will be there president of justice, I will be there president of the national fraternity."

For Macron, possibly the biggest challenge to keeping his growing lead in opinion polls will be to not sound arrogant - something many voters have criticised him for - while poking at the holes he sees in Le Pen's policy plans. In his opening comments he said he would, if re-elected, strive to make France "more independent and stronger ... we can improve everyday life".

On arrival at the TV headquarters, Le Pen had said she was "relaxed", while Macron said he was "focused, ready for a debate that will allow each of us to explain our ideas for France". The election presents voters with two opposing visions of France: Macron offers a pro-European, liberal platform, while Le Pen's nationalist manifesto is founded on deep euroscepticism.

Much haggling went on behind the scenes ahead of the debate, from the temperature of the room to flipping a coin to decide which theme they would start with - the cost of living - to who would speak first - Le Pen. DIFFERENT THIS TIME?

Last time they faced off in a debate, in 2017, Le Pen's presidential challenge unravelled as she mixed up her notes and lost her footing. The prime-time debate on that occasion cemented Macron's status as the clear front-runner.

But Macron is no longer the disruptor from outside politics and now has a record in office that Le Pen can attack. Meanwhile, she has tacked towards mainstream voters and worked hard at softening her image. "He's not the same opponent anymore. He now has spent five years in power which wasn't the case last time," Le Pen said before the debate.

After more than half of the electorate voted for far-right or hard left candidates in the first round, Macron's lead in opinion polls is much narrower than five years ago, when he beat Le Pen with 66.1% of the vote. Voter surveys on Wednesday projected he would win with 55.5-56.5% this time. Some 14% of voters are waiting for the debate to decide who to vote for, a poll by OpinionWay-Kea Partners for Les Echos newspaper showed.