Fillon gets the better of Juppé in TV debate ahead of Sunday vote

French presidential candidates François Fillon and Alain Juppé went head to head in a television debate on Thursday night, with the former seen as the winner ahead of a vote on Sunday which will decide who will be the French right´s candidate in next year's election.

Many had thought the debate would have been a continuation of the war of words between Fillon and Juppé, but it was surprisingly calm as the two candidates made their case to become the next president.

Fillon was seen as the winner of Thursday's debate, even after he had to defend his anti-abortion stance. The practising Catholic said that his view on termination of pregnancies was personal, and that he would not alter France's current laws, in which abortion is legal.

"Haven't I, over 30 years, voted for every law that has given women access to abortion? The response to your question is that obviously I won't touch anything in this domain," Fillon told his opponent.

The two men clashed over economic reform and the privatisation of the French health service, in a week when Juppé lost a lead held over Fillon for months before the debate.

Both candidates operate on a similar policy standing, with only certain aspects of social conservatism separating them.

Last Sunday, former president Nicolas Sarkozy and four other candidates were eliminated from the voting, with the 71-year-old Juppé coming out on top with 29% of the vote.

Polls have shown that current president Francois Hollande would be easily defeated if he were to tun for another term, which suggests the inner of Sunday's primary would come up against National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who is riding high on a wave of right-wing populism which has seen victories for the Brexit campaign and the election of Donald Trump in the United States.