After weeks of waiting before the definitive start of the electoral campaign last Friday and uncertainty about the number of ‘face to face’ of the candidates of the two main parties before their confrontation at the polls on July 23, finally This Monday will take place one of the most anticipated meetings between the head of the Executive and candidate of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the opposition and candidate of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in the only televised duel on the way to Moncloa. The possible pacts with other formations to be able to govern will clearly focus the discourse of both leaders.
Sánchez will attack the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, with the “regression” that the agreements with Vox represent that the PP is signing after the elections of May 28 and that, according to the Socialists, are carrying to a “right-wing” of the ‘popular’. For his part, the PP candidate will remember that he cannot give “lessons” of pacts after the “shame pacts” of the Government in this legislature and will remember that he cannot to be president again without the support of Bildu or ERCaccording to training sources.
Sánchez and Feijóo will attend this monday at 10:00 p.m. to the only ‘face to face’ -organized by Atresmedia for a space of 100 minutes– in which they will discuss various issues: economy; social policy and equality; pacts and governance; and state, institutional and international policies.
Both are aware that it is about a key television duel in the campaign and they have been preparing for it for days, especially the President of the Government, who this weekend has even cleared the meeting agenda. In any case, Sánchez and his team have changed their strategy in the face of these elections and have transferred their presence to the media, to the detriment of the traditional acts with militants.
The PSOE warns of the “extreme right-wing” of the PP
A few days ago, Sánchez emphasized the importance of denouncing the “regression” that the agreements with Vox represent, alerting that “what is relevant” is not “so much the extreme right, but the extreme right-wing of the PP”. “During these last weeks what we are seeing is a trailer for a dark movie,” he said, some messages that his ministers have also replicated in recent days.
so, that “extreme right-wing” of the PP denounced by the socialists and the assimilation of Vox’s speech will be some of the ideas that, predictably, Sánchez will put on the table in this Monday’s debate, without forgetting some of the promises that Vox includes in its program, such as the repeal of the Abortion Law or the Gender Violence Law.
In the debate, Sánchez will value the management of his Government in this legislature, especially in social matters, with measures such as the revaluation of pensions or the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI). He will also reel off some of his electoral promises, such as the ones he has announced this week as free public transport up to 24 years of age or ending waiting lists by setting maximum waiting times.
Although almost all the surveys give Feijóo as a favorite, Sánchez wants to use this debate for the “comeback” and has set himself the goal of reaching more citizens and counteracting the image, in his “false” opinion, that has been created of him in this legislature. “Repealing sanchismo for PP and Vox is to destroy everything built,” he recently said before his own.
Feijóo bets on concentrating the vote to oust Sánchez
For his part, Feijóo will take advantage of his turns in the debate to get the message across to the citizens that “the only option for a “strong” government is through the support of the Spanish” for the PP because Sánchez cannot be president without “the support of ERC, Bildu and the heirs of Podemos”, something that implies “submission and concessions”, according to ‘popular’ sources.
“Therefore, we will ask that you stop voting for him not only for what he has done so far, but for what I would do until September 2027″, They have advanced from Feijóo’s team, who will be accompanied on Monday by his cabinet director, Marta Varela, who will be in charge of entering the set during the commercial break, although several of his collaborators will be in a room set up by Atresmedia.
However, he will not only ask for trust by appealing to “the disappointment of citizens with Sánchez“, but he will explain his proposals to convince the electorate for 23J that his project is not based on blocks, but on the union of citizens, according to PP sources. Thus, the ‘popular’ candidate for the Presidency of the Government It will be in the debate on Monday “the voice of those who are tired of sanchismo both on the right (Vox) and in the center (PP and Cs) and on the left (PSOE)”, the same ‘popular’ sources have added.
Feijóo himself already anticipated this Saturday, in an act in the Zamorano municipality of Corrales del Vino, which will take to the ‘face to face’ with Sánchez the “sickness of sanchismo” and the “difficulties” of families to make ends meet by having less disposable income, with special mention of the rise in the shopping basket and mortgages. In addition, he said that “probably” the chief executive is preparing “insults and disqualifications” but he will attend that debate with “proposals and commitments.”
Together with their teams they prepare the debate with a lot of documentation
Sources from the PSOE leadership have indicated that the president has devoted himself this Saturday to preparing the debate and will also do so on Sunday together with his Cabinet team and with various government ministers, on whom he has relied to study the different issues that will come to the fore. Also, he is using “a lot of papers” to keep the data, keys and arguments fresh of the issues that may appear in the conversation, according to the same sources.
In addition, Sánchez is focused on the debate with great respect for his opponent, taking into account that he is a politician with a lot of experience, an “old dog”, according to Ferraz sources have admitted. Thus, although he is aware that a priori he performs better in that format, both he and his team prepare with caution.
In fact, they are very aware of the precedent of the 1993 debate between the then Prime Minister, Felipe González (PSOE) and the candidate for La Moncloa, José María Aznar (PP). So, González started as a clear favorite due to his experience and his speaking skills, but Aznar surprised him and ended up winning the first televised electoral debate. Now, in Moncloa they do not want the same thing to happen to them.
In the same way, Feijóo – who has focused on preparing the debate during the afternoons of this Saturday and this Sunday and will also dedicate a day on Monday – has requested numerous documentation to be able to explain your country model before the socialist candidate and, above all, before the Spanish. During the last days he has been reviewing reports on the journeys he has made between his different campaign events. However, has decided not to suspend his agenda because he believes that, unlike his rival, he can walk down the street without perceiving the rejection of the citizens and can fill events thanks to the affection of his party, according to PP sources. In fact, this Sunday he will be in the Pontevedra bullring at a rally.
PP sources have indicated that Feijóo “is calm and optimistic”, aware that this televised debate is “a great opportunity” to address not only Pedro Sánchez, but also the citizenry as a whole.
Feijóo wins in almost all the accounts
In ‘Génova’ they denounce that since Ferraz and Moncloa “have spent months trying to discredit the president of the PP with insults, questioning his solvency and his suitability for the position saying that “Spain is great for him”, that “his party would not let him be a candidate”, that he is “ignorant” or even doubting whether he could do politics far from Spain peripheral”.
Therefore, the same sources continue, the PSOE must “manage the expectations generated in a debate in which for the first time in 27 years the opposition leader arrives with greater demoscopic support than the President of the Government”.
