French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron faced off in a scathing two hours of televised debate Wednesday, just days before they face each other in a runoff election.
Le Pen portrayed her opponent as a heartless capitalist who is weak on terrorism, while Macron called his opponent a liar and a dangerous extremist.
Le Pen in her opening statement called the former economy minister Macron "the candidate of savage globalization." Macron called Le Pen, who once was forced to kick her extreme-right father out of their National Front political party, the heir to France's far-right faction.
The country's high unemployment rate was on the agenda. Macron called for simplified government regulations and small and medium-sized businesses, while Le Pen promised to tax the products of companies that outsource jobs.
An opinion polling average shows Macron with a 60 percent to 40 percent lead over Le Pen, though that lead has shrunk by about three percentage points since the first round of voting on April 23.