French presidential election debate - as it happened

Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande cast their vote in the first round of the French presidential elections. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
12.05am CET:
• Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande tonight went head-to-head for three hours in a live TV debate Fighting their corners over issues such as the economy, unemployment, how to deal with France's high public debt, it was seen primarily as a personality contest over who was the most presidential.
• Commentators viewed it as the most aggressive and bruising debate in more than 30 years of French TV stand-offs. Hollande, who had been slated by the right as being bland, vague or too soft to lead France, attacked Sarkozy over his record in office. Sarkozy's repeated line of argument was to call Hollande a liar and incompetent. The president styled himself as much as a challenger as a sitting president.
• The first snap reader poll on the newspaper Le Parisien's website showed Hollande had won ground with the public. The Socialist managed to convey a presidential stature, even if attacking Sarkozy on his own record allowed the president to kept the subject-matter of the debate on his own ground.

11.47pm CET: Concluding comments from Hollande and Sarkozy.

Hollande has one final jibe at Sarkozy's record in office, reminding him that in the 2007 presidential debate Sarkozy had said he wanted to be judged on results: a return to full employment, better spending power, security, immigration. French people will be the judge of that, he says witheringly. Hollande uses the final minutes to pack in as many references as possible to his favourite word "change", change politics, change the way of doing things, change Europe.

He says he won't stigmatise people like Sarkozy, wants to be judged on the justice, fairness of his time in office. In a stab at Sarkozy, he says he doesn't want to spark fear. He has a go at what he deems Sarkozy's scaremongering, saying there won't be market jitters if he's elected, France won't turn into Spain on the economic front, won't be invaded by foreigners.

Conclusion of a front-runner trying to play it safe.

Sarkozy, behind in the polls, has nothing left to lose. He concludes by saying he wants to appeal to all those who haven't voted for him in the first round, mentioning the magic words: Marine Le Pen and her supporters. He says I want to say I respect you, understand your demands for nation, borders, firmness. He also appeals to the centrist François Bayrou, saying a country that doesn't pay back it's debt is not a free country.

But he gets one last bullet in at Hollande: we're in a dangerous, difficult world.

11.42pm CET: Foreign policy now. Hollande insisting he'll pull French troops out of Afghanistan as soon as he can after election.

Sarkozy using it as an opportunity to push is own international experience.

Libya not mentioned yet, but surely it won't take long for Sarkozy to push his role in the coalition force that came to the aid of the revolution. Unless Sarkozy wants to steer clear of the topic of Gaddafi...

11.35pm:
Christophe Barbier, editor of the French weekly L'Express tweets that Sarkozy has used up his DSK ammunition. Accused of appointing DSK to the IMF, Sarkozy shot back that Hollande knew DSK better than he did. Hollande, who has been categorical in distancing himself from DSK said he didn't know details of his private life. Other tweeters are calling the DSK moment, an exchange of "scud missiles".