Updated May 04, 2017 12:28:24

France's presidential candidates have torn into each other in an acrimonious debate, clashing over their competing vision of France's future and ways of handling terrorism.

The two went into the debate with opinion polls showing Emmanuel Macron, 39, maintaining a strong lead of 20 percentage points over the National Front's Marine Le Pen, 48, in this Sunday's run-off for the presidency, in what is widely seen as France's most important election in decades.

The debate, watched by millions, was seen as Ms Le Pen's last major chance to persuade voters of the merits of her program, which includes cracking down on illegal immigration and ditching the euro currency.

In angry exchanges, Ms Le Pen played up Mr Macron's background as a former investment banker and economy minister, painting him as a continuation of the outgoing unpopular Socialist government and a backer of rampant globalisation.

A road trip from the picturesque countryside in northern France to the suburban sprawl of metropolitan Paris reveals voters feel mainstream politicians have failed them.

"Campaign arguments that are shameful and that reveal, perhaps, the coldness of the business banker that you've never stopped being, perhaps," she said.

Mr Macron accused her of not offering solutions to problems such as France's chronic unemployment and calling Ms Le Pen the candidate of defeatism, "of the French extreme right, of the whole system that has prospered on the anger of the French for so many years".

But the sharpest exchange was over national security, a sensitive issue in a country where more than 230 people have been killed by Islamist militants since 2015.

The stylish former investment banker and political newcomer has shocked pundits and is now a serious contender for France's presidency.

Ms Le Pen accused Mr Macron of being complacent in confronting the threat of Islamist fundamentalism.

"You have no plan [on security] but you are indulgent with Islamist fundamentalism," she said.

Mr Macron retorted that terrorism would be his priority if he were elected and accused Ms Le Pen of being simplistic.

"What you are proposing is snake oil," he said, referring to her proposals to close France's borders.

"I will lead a fight against Islamist terrorism at every level.

"But what they are wanting, the trap they are holding out for us, is the one that you offer — civil war."

Macron is the candidate of social brutality: Le Pen

Ms Le Pen labelled Mr Macron a "smirking banker" and said he represented unfettered globalisation.

"Mr Macron is the candidate of globalisation gone wild, of Uberisation, of precariousness, of social brutality, of war by everybody against everybody … of the butchering of France by big economic interests," she said, referring to the gig economy typified by US app-based cab service Uber.

Mr Macron hit back by calling Ms Le Pen a liar, saying she was talking nonsense and that her rhetoric lacked substance.

Her supporters see her as France's saviour, and she's managed to turn her National Front party from the far-right fringe to serious political contender.

On unemployment, Mr Macron told Ms Le Pen: "Your strategy is simply to tell a lot of lies and just to say what isn't going right in the country."

The two candidates have mapped out diametrically opposed visions for France.

Mr Macron has called for liberal reforms to kickstart the French economy, while Ms Le Pen rails against the loss of French jobs through off-shoring and would adopt protectionist trade measures.

Mr Macron finished three points ahead of Ms Le Pen in the first round on April 23, but he is widely expected now to pick up the bulk of votes from the Socialists and the centre-right, whose candidates were eliminated.

Though Ms Le Pen has a mountain to climb, the campaign has been packed with surprises.

A French opinion poll found 63 per cent favoured Mr Macron over his far-right rival Ms Le Pen.

"She has a certain advantage in the verbal jousting," one voter said after the debate.

"But on the basis of her platform there is this swamp of corrupted, horrible ideas that cannot carry a country in the long term."

Outgoing French President Francois Hollande, hours before the two rivals sat down before the cameras, renewed a call to stop Ms Le Pen and vote for his former minister in Mr Macron.

Reuters/ABC

Topics: elections, government-and-politics, world-politics, france

First posted May 04, 2017 08:05:24