TV debate

Some 59% of viewers found the sitting president to have been the most convincing in the long TV debate than his rival Marine Le Pen, according to a snap poll for BFM TV. 

Some 63% of viewers of BFM TV said former minister was more convincing than Marine Le Pen in sometimes fierce 2-hour TV debate.

Le Pen played up Macron's background as investment banker while he accused her of not having solutions to issues such as unemployment.

Sparks are set to fly as the contenders for the presidency fight their corner in a last encounter before Sunday's runoff vote.

Poll gives independent candidate 23.5% of the vote, his lowest score in a month, and equal with far-right's Marine Le Pen.

Opinion surveys immediately after a marathon TV debate on Monday between the top five candidates campaigning for the French presidency found the most convincing participant was centrist Emmanuel Macron, who on Tuesday was boosted by support from both a junior minister in the socialist government and also an advisor to President François Hollande.

The leading five candidates, out of a total of 11, take part in the first televised debate between them on Monday evening, regarded by observers as a key contest to win over what opinion polls show to be a large number of the elctorate who have yet to decide with who they will place their vote.

Presidential hopefuls quarrelled over legacy of the deeply unpopular presidency of François Hollande, who ruled out a re-election bid last month.

An opinion survey following Thursday's live TV debate between the seven rivals to become France's conservative opposition party's candidate in next year's presidential elections gave former prime minister Alain Juppé a significant lead over second-placed Nicolas Sarkozy.

The seven rivals in the race to become the presidential candidate for the mainstream right-wing opposition party Les Républicains in elections next April take to the stage Thursday for their first live TV debate, with opinion surveys indicating that former president Nicolas Sarkozy lags behind veteran Gaullist Alain Juppé.

The Telegraph gives a blow-by blow account of the French presidential debate between Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Party challenger François Hollande.

Nicolas Sarkozy and rival presidential election candidate François Hollande face off Wednesday evening in the one, high-stakes debate of the campaign.