French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen traded insults in a showdown of "unprecedented brutality" during a live TV debate last night.
They battled it out for more than two hours, each hoping to win over voters before they go to the polls on Sunday in one of the most divisive elections in France's history.
Macron, who set up his centrist En Marche! party last year, was widely seen as the victor, winning more than 63 per cent of viewers, the BBC reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, both candidates were criticised for spending more time insulting one another than talking policy.
Shocked by the level of invective, France's Le Figaro newspaper called out Le Pen's "strategy of total war" in a debate of "unprecedented brutality", while Liberation criticised her for "drowning the debate in an avalanche of disinformation".
"Maybe. But it didn't half make for riveting viewing," the BBC says.
Le Pen accused her rival of being little more than a cold-hearted banker, adds the broadcaster, while he went for her Front National roots. "The high priestess of fear is sitting before me," he said.
Le Pen being there at all was "historic", the Washington Post says - when her father Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the final round of the presidential vote in 2002, Jacques Chirac refused to debate him.
The format of French candidates sparring across a table with no studio audience has not changed for 40 years, says The Guardian, which declares the latest debate a "slanging match".
The New York Times agrees, saying it was "more like an angry American-style television shoutfest than the reasoned discussion of issues the French have become accustomed to".
CNN writes: "There was so much at stake that it was almost difficult to watch."
Infographic by www.statista.com for TheWeek.co.uk.
-
Can anyone stop Donald Trump?Today's Big Question US president ‘no longer cares what anybody thinks’ so how to counter his global strongman stance?
-
How space travel changes your brainUnder the Radar Space shifts the position of the brain in the skull, causing orientation problems that could complicate plans to live on the Moon or Mars
-
How Iran protest death tolls have been politicisedIn the Spotlight Regime blames killing of ‘several thousand’ people on foreign actors and uses videos of bodies as ‘psychological warfare’ to scare protesters
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
‘Lumpy skin’ protests intensify across France as farmers fight cullIN THE SPOTLIGHT A bovine outbreak coupled with ongoing governmental frustrations is causing major problems for French civil society
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
