“Vous rigolez ou quoi?” Emmanuel Macron used this phrase three times in the much-anticipated election debate with his French presidential opponent Marine Le Pen. “Are you kidding or something?” the president said repeatedly in response to an incorrect statement by Le Pen.
The familiar phrase is typical of how the debate went on Wednesday evening. As in 2017, Macron, armed with numbers and voting data, tried to discredit his opponent. And this worked undeniably several times. When Le Pen said that inflation is currently 1 percent higher than the growth of the economy, Macron interrupted her with:ah good† (is that so?), after which the startled Le Pen looked doubtfully at her notes. Yesshe confirmed, but not much later the president mentioned official figures that Le Pen .’s statement refuted†
And also at a few other moments Le Pen fell through the basket. When she claimed that Macron, as economy minister, had been responsible for her party’s inability to obtain a loan from a French bank in 2014 – which it is not – Macron gave her a wide-eyed look. “Vous rigolez ou quoi?”
Also read: Left-wing voter in doubt: ‘It would really hurt me to vote for Macron’
Dangerous
But while the president has repeatedly held his opponent to account for factual inaccuracies and all analysts seem to agree that he was substantively stronger, his diligent fact-checker tactics can work against him. Not only did Macron constantly interrupt his opponent and the debate leaders, he also did so with a haughty attitude. “Mrs. Le Pen, Mrs. Le Pen, Mrs. Le Pen,” he sighed disapprovingly at one point. At times he rested his head on his hands and looked at his opponent with raised eyebrows like a father waiting for his teenage daughter to finish making excuses.
It did not go unnoticed: on social media, opponents of Macron soon shared screenshots of the arrogant looking president and Wednesday night was master (disdainfully) trending on Twitter. This is dangerous for Macron, who has long held the image of an exalted member of the elite. Within the radical left electorate that Macron needs to win against Le Pen this weekend, this sentiment is strong.
Compared to 2017 – when it debate de l’entre deux tours was a fiasco for Le Pen and sent her plummeting in the polls – the Rassemblement National frontwoman fared a lot better on Wednesday night. Rather than fiddling with her notes and confusing her precise policies, she looked organized and more confident in her schedule. She was also less distracted by the live fact checking by her opponent.
Le Pen managed to hit on Macron’s weaknesses a number of times, such as his image as president for wealthy city dwellers. When he asked Le Pen why she has not yet paid off her loan from a Russian bank, Le Pen reproachfully replied: “We are a poor party, there is nothing dishonorable about that”. She also reminded viewers that Macron wanted to raise fuel prices several years ago — a painful topic in light of current prices — and blamed him for “looking only at the cities” when it came to education policy. But she also missed opportunities. Because she barely touched on topics with which she could really touch Macron in these elections, such as the crisis of confidence shown by the Yellow Vest movement and Macron’s controversial vaccination policy.
Also read this analysis of the debate in 2017: Le Pen irritates, Macron keeps smiling
Climate discussion surprised
For many subjects, Wednesday evening was a repetition of moves that have often been made in recent years. It seemed like a fill-in-the-blank exercise: Le Pen denounced Macron’s terrorism policy, Macron accused Le Pen of confusing Islam and Islamism. Le Pen portrayed Macron as a threat to national identity, Macron attacked Le Pen over her ties to Russia and warned of her EU plans. Valid points of view, but not surprising.
There was a striking moment in the conversation about climate policy. This is not their forte for any of the candidates: Macron is blamed for only talking nice about the climate, but for putting too little into practice and Le Pen’s intention to stop building wind turbines and use only nuclear energy horrifies climate activists.
Yet both tried to portray themselves as champions for a greener world – the unfettered left-wing voter must have been in the back of their minds. Le Pen said he wants to invest in organic farming and called Macron a hypocrite for refusing to “recognize that the free trade-based economic model is responsible for a large part of greenhouse gas emissions”. Macron used his well-known defence: disdain and facts. He accused Le Pen of being a “climate skeptic” and refuted her claim that France can only run on nuclear energy.
Also read: Why don’t so many French young people vote?
It was remarkable on Wednesday evening on which platforms the debate could be followed. For the first time, the debate was also broadcast on the youth-popular video website Twitch, with live commentary from so-called political leaders streamers as Jean Massiet and Hugo Travers. Both are trying to get more young people excited about politics – not an easy task, as a higher level of abstention than ever is expected among young people this year. At least on Wednesday evening they seem to have managed to reach some of them: more than 200,000 viewers followed the debate on Twitch.
The consequences of the debate on the turnout and the eventual results of the presidential elections are yet to be seen. However, according to a Wednesday night published poll by research agency Elabe for BFM TV that 59 percent of viewers found Macron more convincing than Le Pen in the election debate. It remains to be seen how high that percentage is in the floating group of centre-right and left-wing voters.