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The two candidates for the French presidency of France, Emanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will face off in a public debate Wednesday night, a long-awaited test for the upcoming run-off on April 24th.
This is the first such debate since the candidates started the election campaign after President Emmanuel Macron refused to debate in the first round of elections.
The two-and-a-half-hour debate on Wednesday marks a final and crucial chance for the two candidates, incumbent Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, to convince voters to go to the polls on Sunday.
This is also a repeat of their 2017 TV showdown, which was seen as quite influential in the campaign.
The debate at the time was seen as a loss for Le Pen, who at times seemed confused about economic issues. Overall, the debate was considered tense between the two candidates. Le Pen recently admitted that the debate in 2017 which had an audience of 16.5 million people was a failure.
Macron, meanwhile, still leads the polls this time around, albeit by a much smaller margin and is therefore expected to be a tighter race than 2017.
The latest Ipsos Sopra / Steria poll suggests Macron is leading with 56.5% compared to 43.5% for Le Pen. Other polls have shown a much narrower race in the runoff.
Both presidential candidates are likely to try to pull off the left-wing voters who elected Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round.
Mélenchon won 22% of the vote in the first round with a program focusing on the public, social assistance and the environment
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