Paris: French presidential rivals Francois Hollande and Francois Hollande locked horns in a televised debate ahead of Sunday’s critical run-off, Press TV reported.
Francois Hollande censured Sarkozy’s for his “ineffective and costly reforms” in their only televised debate.
Sarkozy, who is trailing the challenger in opinion polls by six to ten points before the runoff despite launching an aggressive campaign, said he wanted the prime-time debate to be a “moment of truth”.
After Hollande blamed Sarkozy for making partisan appointments in the public sector, he roared back, saying, “That is a lie, it is slander, you are a little slanderer for saying that.”
“Mr. Hollande. When you lie so shamelessly, do I have to accept it?” he asked.
On his part, Hollande accused Sarkozy of dividing the French people during his five-year tenure and of using the global economic crisis as an excuse to break promises.
The socialist said he wanted to be “the president of justice”, “the president of revival” and “the president of unity”.
In reply, Sarkozy said his opponent was lying about economic figures and other stuff.
“It’s all very nice to talk about uniting people, but it has to be put into practice,” the French president said. “The example I want to follow is Germany and not Spain or Greece.”
The debate was broadcast live on major TV channels. Unusually, the streets of Paris were empty as most of the French were watching the two ‘fighting’.
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