FRANCE 24: In the first and only televised debate ahead of Sunday’s vote, incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival François Hollande traded barbs as they faced off on a number of issues ranging from economic policies to immigration.
It was billed as “The Final Confrontation” and that’s exactly what millions of TV viewers across France got Wednesday night as incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy squared off against his Socialist challenger, François Hollande, in an intensely contested face-off, the only debate of the 2012 campaign.
With just four days to go before Sunday’s final round of the presidential poll, the stakes were high as Hollande kicked off the debate with a ferocious attack on what he called Sarkozy’s track record of dividing the French people, adding that if he were elected, the Socialist politician would be a “president for justice”.
In a quick rebuttal - the sort that characterised the contentious tone of the debate - Sarkozy shot back: “Bringing people together – what a beautiful idea. But it’s not just words, it’s facts that matter,” before noting that during his tenure as president, Sarkozy managed to implement controversial policies such as pension reforms without massive street protests.
The much-anticipated debate kicked off at 9pm local time at a TV studio north of Paris with the two candidates facing each other across a table mounted with two digital clocks to monitor the speaking time of each candidate.
Moderated by leading French TV presenters, David Pujadas of France 2 and Laurence Ferrari of TF1, Wednesday’s debate was broadcast live by several French TV stations, reaching roughly half of France's 44.5 million voters.
In a wide-ranging debate that included economic policies, immigration issues as well as foreign policy initiatives, the two candidates repeatedly clashed as they reeled out statistics, frequently accused each other of citing incorrect figures, and were not above taking the occasional personal jabs at each other. » | France 24 | Thursday, May 03, 2012
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