Election debate

French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are set to face off Wednesday in a crucial TV debate ahead of the presidential ...

“Don't give me lessons on the financing of my project,” said Le Pen. “You're the president who created €600 billion of additional debt, two-thirds of which have absolutely nothing to do with COVID-19,” adding: “there is an €85 billion deficit in the trade balance. Le Pen was quick to point the finger at what she described as a U-turn and accused Macron of acting too late. “You have the presumptuousness of saying I helped big groups, go ask the restaurants owners and the artisans,” he says, adding that he spent €600 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic to help them. “Your economic track record is bad and your welfare track record is catastrophic,” she says. “The collapse of the hospital [system] was known, you were already in power for three years, you could have considered it an emergency right away,” she added. Tilting at windmills: The two candidates see things differently when it comes to renewable energy. Le Pen already slammed Macron's government for a record-high trade deficit (nearly €85 billion in 2021). Expect her to do it again. Here is what you need to know on their positions. “I have therefore built my entire project around localism, around the relocation of production and activities. Back then, Macron crushed Le Pen in an episode that left deep scars on the far-right leader. For professional integration, she is banking on work-study programs (alternance in French), by allocating a “training voucher” to companies hiring young apprentices. For elementary school, both candidates want to reinforce the basic subjects [math, French, etc] until the baccalaureate, and reduce class sizes.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese dragged each other to a nil-all draw on Wednesday night in an election debate where both leaders played it so safe that ...

That result is similar to the findings in this week’s Resolve Political Monitor, which showed that 27 per cent of voters described themselves as uncommitted to either side. The headlines about the winning margin will have a bigger impact on more people than the debate itself. Albanese gained an edge for a moment with a memorable line. “But it’s always the Liberals that have to pay for these things,” Morrison continued. In that sense, it was a successful debate. More than anything, it seemed a small debate. Morrison had a greater challenge at this debate than his counterparts in recent campaigns. The host, Kieran Gilbert, said staff would be in touch to follow up. The result in the room shows this election is very competitive. The Labor leader’s preparation for the debate paid off after his stumbles last week. “That’s an outrageous slur from the Prime Minister,” Albanese responded. It’s a good idea, it worked, therefore we embrace it.

French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen clashed in a heated debate on Wednesday over who would be best placed to improve ...

In the heated exchange on Russia, during which Macron at one point told Le Pen "Are you kidding me?" Le Pen said Macron's cost of living proposals would be inefficient and unfair. Voter surveys on Wednesday projected he would win with 55.5-56.5% this time. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Neither leader was knocked off course in a debate that finally introduced some policy into the campaign. But the final result held a warning for both ...

And the audience in the room narrowly favoured Albanese's performance to Morrison's, 40 per cent to 35 per cent. He seemed to have forgotten Labor's — and his own — vehement opposition to boat turn-backs in the lead-up to the 2013 election. A poor performance, gaffe, stumble, or killer blow can derail a few days or even a week of the campaign. The reality is the stakes are high and everyone knows it. The Prime Minister had his own stumbles. This led to Albanese's most awkward moment of the night.

Australia's prime minister and his opposition rival have clashed heatedly over Australia's tumultuous relationship with China in the first leaders' debate ...

It’s more aggressive, it’s more active in the region and we need to understand that and respond to it,” Albanese added. Albanese was voted the debate winner by 40 audience members, 35 gave it to Morrison and 25 were undecided. The government is seeking a rare fourth three-year term. No, this has happened because China is seeking to interfere in the Pacific,” Morrison said. China has changed its posture. The Labor leader was referring to Australia’s policy of increased engagement with its island neighbors, which the government describes as its Pacific step up.

The high-stakes, two-and-a-half-hour confrontation, the only direct clash between the two candidates, has been a tradition of French presidential campaigns ...

A draw has determined that Le Pen will speak first, and Macron will have the last word. It is likely to attract an audience of millions – the 2017 clash was watched by 16.4 million – and has been tightly choreographed, with every detail agreed by both camps. But he has explain the problems, the inconsistencies, the impossibilities of her programme.

While it appears the electrification of transport is not a priority for either major party, one is promising a minor tax concession on some zero-emission ...

“I think Australia can be an energy powerhouse continuing into the future. We will reduce the taxes on electric vehicles. “We need to make more things here.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen traded fierce criticism of each other's proposals on Wednesday, facing off in ...

The war in Ukraine had initially loomed large over the early stage of the French campaign, before domestic issues surged back to the forefront of the public debate. Macron also has faced criticism for shifting to the right on immigration over the past years. “I think the risk for Emmanuel Macron will be arrogance,” Lévrier said. Macron has framed his proposals as more realistic than Le Pen’s. The far-right leader wants to scrap income taxes for anyone younger than 30, cut taxes on energy and many basic goods, and go on a government spending spree. Le Pen and Macron were set to discuss eight broad themes, starting with people’s purchasing power and followed by international politics, France’s social model, the environment, competitiveness, youth, security and immigration, and institutions. Le Pen’s biggest weakness on Wednesday could be her radical anti-immigration proposals, set to be discussed toward the end of the debate, which have long limited her party’s chances of winning over more moderate or leftist voters. Even though France’s economy has emerged more robustly from the pandemic than those of some of its neighbors, Le Pen’s campaign has gained momentum by echoing a sentiment that economic growth hasn’t benefited most citizens. But she appeared more at ease on Wednesday, even when the highly-scripted and precisely-timed debate began with a false start: Le Pen started to speak while the opening music was still playing. But questions about Le Pen’s past admiration of Putin, her ties to Russia and her criticism of NATO and the E.U. all reemerged in the debate. “Thanks to the trust put in me, I have gone through this period as the head of state, trying to make the right decisions. Wednesday’s debate is the last major opportunity for the far-right leader to portray herself as more moderate and presidential than five years ago. “We’ve all together been through a difficult time — unprecedented crises, a pandemic on a scale we’ve not seen in a century, and today the return of war to European soil,” Macron said.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron debate ahead of Sunday's final round vote in the French election.

Secularism: Asked about her promise to ban the wearing of the hijab in public, Le Pen insists she is not anti-Islam but “opposed to the Islamist ideology”. She says Macron’s policies against Islamism “has not been effective”. The hijab is “a uniform imposed by Islamists” and should be banned in public. It is confusing all the problems; confusing Islam with Islamism.” He says France, “the home of the Enlightenment”, would be the first country in the world to ban religious signs in public space. Macron says he would never ban signs of religious belief in public because doing so would be contrary to France’s constitution: “You will incite a civil war if you ban the veil,” he said. He accuses Le Pen of being a climate sceptic, observing: “There is not a single ecological proposal in your project.” He criticises her proposal to dismantle windfarms that have already been built and ban future ones. Crime: Le Pen says crime and security is “an absolutely essential issue. Le Pen attacks the president’s “appalling economic record”, dubbing Macron “the Mozart of finance”. She is sceptical about Macron’s claim to have cut unemployment from 9.6% to 7.4%; he defends it with international data. Asked to open the debate by stating what kind of president she would be, Marine Le Pen says she would be “a president of daily life, of the value of work … A president of national fraternity, uniting the national around a collective project. Le Pen calls this “an insufferable injustice”; she says she will place the retirement age at between 60 and 62, with 42 years of contributions required for a full state pension. Macron says he has traversed a “difficult time” with the country, a time when “fears, concerns are there”. He aims to continue to do so because “I believe that we can make our country more independent, and stronger”. He also notes that Le Pen’s promise to raise salaries by 10% is not in her gift: “It is employers who decide that.” Macron adds that his government’s measures have kept inflation significantly lower in France than in its EU neighbours. “You are dependent on Russian power, and Mr Putin”, Macron says. Macron says purchasing power has risen under his presidency but admits “life is becoming more expensive”. He says it is more effective to cap prices than to cut taxes, and notes that Le Pen voted against price caps in parliament.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has claimed a narrow win from the first leaders' debate, as he seeks to...

PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON WIN: Mr Morrison claimed a win on the government's economic handling during the pandemic and recent budget turnaround.

WIN: Mr Morrison claimed a win on the government's economic handling during the pandemic and recent budget turnaround. The prime minister also came under fire on foreign policy following the situation in the Solomon Islands. LABOR LEADER ANTHONY ALBANESE WIN: Labor's position on aged care reform and funding for programs such as the NDIS was its win from the debate, along with strong calls for a federal integrity commission. PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON WIN: Mr Morrison claimed a win on the government's economic handling during the pandemic and recent budget turnaround.

Last night the prime minister and his challenger clashed on aged care, the NDIS, and boat turnbacks in a fo...

"I think one of the things he's (been) told he can't be too aggressive in public anymore. I think both of them have got that message," he said. "I think one of the things he's (been) told he can't be too aggressive in public anymore.

PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON WIN: Mr Morrison claimed a win on the government's economic handling during the pandemic...

French President Emmanuel Macron was found to be more convincing than far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in a pre-election debate on French televison ahead ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com In 2017, Macron beat Le Pen with 66.1% of the vote. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese met in the first leaders' debate of the federal election campaign.

Albanese trumpeted Labor’s record on social and economic reform and Morrison claimed it’s “always the Liberals who have to work out how to pay for them”. Morrison went on the offensive suggesting the ALP would not stand up to China — with Albanese calling this an “outrageous slur”. In terms of the issues covered, notable absences were questions on Indigenous affairs, education and climate change. First, Morrison put Albanese on the backfoot on immigration policy, highlighting how Labor had changed its position on boat turnbacks. However, the subsequent media narrative about them can be important, given there is some increase in the number of Australians who only make their vote decision during the campaign (about 37% at the last election according to the Australian Election Study). Given it was not on free-to-air TV, the ratings are not likely to be high. Whoever goes on to win this election, the disillusionment will be hard to arrest. In 1993, about 70% of respondents indicated they watched the leaders’ debates and by 2019 it was just 30%. Conversely, Morrison must rely less on what he did in his last term and outline what goodies we can expect in the next. He turned the conversation to how “blessed” he was to have two daughters who did not have disabilities. To borrow from the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, each leader offered generous servings of pathos (emotion): Morrison spoke of being “blessed” with children with wife Jenny, Albanese recalled growing up poor in public housing. But the real winner from my perspective was the forum format, getting Australians to ask their own questions to the leaders.