In the opinion of viewers interviewed by Elabe, the President of the Republic dominated the candidate of the National Rally this Wednesday evening. An opinion shared by our editorialists, who judged Marine Le Pen too “on the defensive”. “This debate will not go down in history as one of the most spectacular debates”. If the duel between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen interested millions of French people this Wednesday, the substance of the exchanges between the two candidates in the second round of the presidential election will not mark the History of the Fifth Republic, estimates the head of the political service of BFMTV Philippe Corbé. But which of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen triumphed during the debate between the two rounds? Five years ago, the duel had been judged largely won by the candidate of La République en Marche – Marine Le Pen had herself later judged that her performance at the time was “failed”.Marine Le Pen “n “Marine Le Pen did not shine” was no better than in 2017, says Amandine Atalaya, political columnist for BFMTV. “She did not shine, but worse: she adopted a rather strange strategy, without being in the attack. The candidate of the National Rally “left this role to Emmanuel Macron, who confronted her on her votes in Parliament,” she said. Amandine Atalaya thus believes that Marine Le Pen has been “too busy erasing her faults of 2017 (…) and has created new ones”: “She was on the defensive for the majority of the time, even on subjects like the veil.” “Advantage Emmanuel Macron”, abounds our editorialist Bruno Jeudy. “He attacked when we thought he would be on the reserve. She defended a lot and finally attacked little. She even seemed paralyzed at the start of the debate”, affirms the editor-in-chief of Paris Match. Macron sometimes ” condescending”The deputy editor of the magazine Valeurs Actuelles, who has nevertheless devoted several hostile front pages to Emmanuel Macron in recent weeks, also believes that the RN candidate has “lost her bet tonight” “She was quite passive and has sometimes been locked up in techno debates”, slice Tugdual Denis. If the outgoing president emerges victorious from this debate, Bruno Jeudy however believes that Emmanuel Macron has sometimes been “condescending, giver of lessons”. “No doubt, he wanted to do battle,” he judges. Remarks shared by Nora Hamadi, a journalist specializing in European issues. The President of the Republic “had in his physical communication a form of contempt in his eyes, a form of arrogance”, she underlines. One of his facial expressions at the start of the duel has also been widely commented on – and diverted – on social networks. The opinion of these editorialists is apparently shared by a majority of viewers. 59% of them judged that Emmanuel Macron was the most convincing this Wednesday evening, against only 39% for Marine Le Pen, according to our survey carried out by Elabe for BFMTV and L’Express with our partner SFR.