Le Pen, Macron trade blows

PARIS: France’s presidential candidates traded fresh blows on Thursday after one of the fiercest TV debates in the nation’s history, with frontrunner Emmanuel Macron holding on to his status as favourite for the weekend’s decisive run-off.

The centrist Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen clashed repeatedly over terrorism, the economy and Europe in Wednesday’s hot-tempered debate watched by 16.5 million people.

Le Pen branded the 39-year-old former economy minister and investment banker "the candidate of the elite" while he called her "the high priestess of fear".

After the bruising contest, a snap poll by French broadcaster BFMTV found that 63 percent of viewers thought Macron was the "most convincing" of the two, broadly mirroring forecasts for the decisive election on Sunday.

Former US president Barack Obama threw his support behind the pro-EU Macron, offering fresh backing for the candidate.

Obama said in a video that Macron had stood up for "liberal values" and had "put forward a vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world".

The rivals were at each other’s throats again on Thursday, with Le Pen defending the aggressive tone of the debate by arguing that she had tried to "lift the veil... on who Mister Macron is" and he again accused her of lying constantly.

"He presents himself as a new man who emerged from nowhere... when in fact he emerged from (President) Francois Hollande’s government," Le Pen said in a TV interview.

Macron told France Inter radio: "You can’t choke off all of the lies but you can kill off some of them."