Le Pen, Macron prepare for crunch French presidency duel

PARIS: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen prepared on Wednesday for their one-off televised debate four days ahead of France’s presidential elections, seeking to sway millions of voters who are still undecided.

France in Sunday’s second round run-off faces a stark choice between the centrist president Macron and the anti-immigration Le Pen who will seek to become the country’s first far right head of state in an outcome that would send shockwaves around Europe.

Macron is favourite to win the run-off, with most polls showing an advantage of over 10 percent, and become the first French president to win a second term since Jacques Chirac in 2002.

But analysts and allies of the president have warned the result is far from a foregone conclusion, with polls indicating over 10 percent of French who intend to cast their ballots have yet to decide who to vote for. The incumbent and his rival will trade blows starting at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), in a rematch of their 2017 face-off that was widely seen as disastrous for Le Pen.