Roundup: French conservative contender Fillon ahead in final debate before primary run-off

Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, favorite candidate of the center-right party for 2017 presidential race, has dominated the face-off with his challenger Alain Juppe, an Elabe survey released late Thursday showed.

According to the poll, 57 percent of 908 respondents said Fillon was the most convincing, and 71 percent of conservative and center-right voters considered him the winner against Juppe.

In a televised debate on Thursday, the two candidates showed great similarities in their economic proposals, which include raising retirement age and reducing public expenditure by cutting public service jobs.

However, Juppe, who was forced to overturn sliding popularity after first round defeat, tried to differ by attacking Fillon's plan to slash 500,000 posts in public services, which he said was unrealistic. He wants to reduce 250,000 posts by modernizing public services.

"Reform should not be a punishment but bring hope," Juppe said.

Defending his "more radical project," the winner of Sunday's conservative primaries' Fillon, retorted "I do not accept saying it's impossible."

"Alain Juppe does not really want to change things. He's staying within the system, he just wants to improve it," he added.

On social issues and foreign policy, the two contenders quarrelled over multi-culturalism and whether France should cooperate with Russia to win the war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

"France is not a multi-cultural nation. I want the foreigners who come to our country to integrate. When we go to somebody's house, we don't try to take power," Fillon said.

Campaigning for "happy identity," Juppe saw the other face of the coin and pledged to consolidate the country's social model and respect diversity of French society that he called a factor of strength.

Juppe, 71, who has served as prime minister and foreign minister, portrayed himself as a modern centrist with moderate political rhetoric with which he tries to appease modern conservatives, centrists and even angry left-wing voters.

"I am a little surprised that, for the first time, the Russian head of state chooses his candidate (in French election)," he said referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's support for Fillon.

But for Fillon, the real danger is not Russia, the real danger is economy and it is called Asia.

He stressed that Paris and Moscow need to "sit down around the same table" to bridge differences and enhance bilateral ties.

Lagging for months behind Juppe, Fillon, 62, made a surprise lead in the primaries' first round on Sunday with 44.1 percent of vote against Juppe's 28.5 percent.

The two-top-ranked candidates will face off in the runoff on Nov. 27.

With a wide margin, Fillon would win the conservative nomination for 2017 presidential election with 65 percent of votes versus 35 percent for his rival, an ifop-Fiducial poll released on Wednesday showed.

According to the country's pollsters, the presidential favorite would be a conservative. He would easily unseat the incumbent Socialist President Francois Hollande and beat far-rightist leader Marine Le Pen on growing public discontent over the Socialists's ruling and persistent refusal of a harsh anti-immigration approach. Endi