2023-07-09 23:08:00
Updated: Jul 10, 2023 | 08:00
09 jul 2023 | 18:15
Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo face off tonight in the only ‘face to face’ of the general elections on July 23, the first for more than seven years at the national level.
The ‘socialist’ is postulated as the veteran in this format at the national level, although Feijóo has already experienced them during his time as president of the Xunta de Galicia, and both do so with the shadow of their confrontations in the Senate as the only precedent .
Since the arrival of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in national politics, the now leader of the PP has only been able to debate with the President of the Government in the Senate. His position in the Upper House has allowed him to maintain “face to face” with Sánchez despite not having a seat as a deputy after the fierce confrontation of the Genoa leadership with the previous “popular” leader, Pablo Casado, who accelerated the arrival of the PP national of Feijóo; since then the opposition leader has tried to establish himself as the alternative to Sánchez.
In total, both have had six occasions to debate their proposals in the Upper House. The first of these was in June 2022, and since then the growing tension and the rises in tone have been emerging in their questions.
Normally, these confrontations have had social policies such as the ‘only yes is yes’ law or sexist violence as protagonists of their institutional discussions, although the discrepancies over the progress of the economy have also focused the discourses of one and the other, and sow a precedent for what could happen this Monday in the ‘face to face’ of Atresmedia.
All set in Ferraz and Genoa
Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo have prepared for what will be the decisive debate. In fact, the Prime Minister canceled a meeting this Saturday to unify data with the ministers.
This same Sunday, from Moncloa they claimed to prepare the debate “with absolute respect for the political adversary.” “Feijóo has been in politics all his life, and this gives him a very important background to face this debate. He is not a rookie,” added ‘socialist’ sources, while insisting that Spain “must know what Feijóo and his ultra ally are proposing” .
“Nobody knows what model they have for Spain. If this is what we see in town halls and autonomous communities, it is antagonistic to ours. The PP has assimilated Vox’s policies, which is not unusual because until four days ago they were the same party. For this reason , and although we wanted more debates, Feijóo has only allowed there to be one”, they have highlighted.
Pedro Sánchez has also spoken out hours before the debate in an interview with ‘elDiario.es’ in which he has stressed that what is at stake on 23J “is not political alternation, but democracy”. “They should be ashamed to exchange seats for principles, rights for votes,” denounced the Prime Minister, who criticizes Feijóo for allowing Vox to enter the institutions and calls for the support of voters from all parties. “I ask for the vote for all the voters of other political options, including the PP, who are ashamed of the agreements with Vox,” he said.
For his part, the opposition leader also had some last words before the meeting. In an interview in ‘La Razón’, he assured that he is rigorously preparing for the debate, something that he has combined with his campaign actions. In addition, he has admitted that the chief executive is “better at television sets”, but has assured that he goes “calm” because he is going to “tell the truth”. “I am calm. Do you know why I am calm? Because I am going to tell the truth and I am not going to lie to anyone”, he has stated.
Likewise, the president of the PP has insisted that Sánchez will resort to insults and lies face to face and has criticized that the leader of the Executive “has been preparing the debate for four days”, alluding to the fact that the head of the Executive the agenda of rallies and electoral acts with PSOE militants has been cleared these days. “With a small mouth he asked for six debates; six debates for four days, 24 days, two electoral campaigns together. Man, you saw the feather duster of the six debates, thank goodness we let you run an electoral campaign!”, he expressed.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo will spend the morning in his office at the Genoa headquarters until moving to Atresmedia. The ‘popular’ face the appointment optimistically and with the aim that the citizens “withdraw their trust in Pedro Sánchez”, as confirmed by sources from the formation on Sunday.
Feijóo will attend the meeting accompanied by Marta Varela, who will be the one to enter the set during the commercial breaks. “Feijóo will explain his proposals to convince the electorate for 23J that his project is not based on blocks, but on the union of citizens,” they settle from the formation.
Sixth face to face of democracy
Sánchez repeats in a ‘face to face’ as PSOE candidate for the presidency of the Government. The ‘socialist’ leader has already faced two debates of this format, but the record remains with his previous political opponent, Mariano Rajoy. Of the six ‘face to face’, Rajoy has starred in three of them.
The history of the ‘face to face’ was born 30 years ago by the hand of Felipe González and José María Aznar. 17 years after the beginning of democracy, the leaders of PSOE and PP were measured in a format unprecedented in Spain up to now and that allowed viewers to see the two political options that had the possibility of reaching Moncloa facing each other.
This debate was held in two meetings barely a week apart and, despite the fact that the experts declared José María Aznar to be the winner, Felipe González revalidated his position as Prime Minister in those general elections for the third consecutive time.
It took 15 years to see two political leaders ‘face to face’ again before a general election. It was 2008, and there were two new faces: Mariano Rajoy and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The debate took on a harsh tone when Rajoy blamed Zapatero on the political negotiation with ETA for the ceasefire and the Atocha bombings took on a political character when the ‘socialist’ reminded Rajoy of the role of the PP on that March 11th. Also then there was a ‘second round’ less remembered than the previous one and in which, anecdotally, Zapatero noted that ‘good night and good luck’ to close his turn.
Rajoy was once again one of the protagonists in 2011. On the other side, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who had to face a tough Rajoy due to the severe economic crisis that Spain was going through. It was then that the ‘popular’ leader rose to Moncloa as Prime Minister.
Thus, four years later, he received Pedro Sánchez, again, in a ‘face to face’, this time with the most deteriorated bipartisanship and with a higher tone. Between accusations of corruption, Sánchez came to pronounce the now famous “you are not decent” and Rajoy had the commented lapse when speaking of his “ruiz and petty” accusation.
The ‘socialist’ candidate arrives today in a very different position than he did then. Spain had been ‘dyed’ blue for four years and, although by less distance, the ‘popular’ would win again on December 20, 2015.
Now, after four years of the coalition government of PSOE and Podemos, most of the polls give victory to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, although the Prime Minister is convinced that he will win the general elections.
The importance of this historical debate
It is the sixth face to face in the history of democracy, and its importance is vital because of how the political landscape has changed in the last seven years. When Sánchez and Rajoy faced their proposals in 2015, the possible pacts in the event of victory for either of them were blurred and had little importance.
Also, in that year, other electoral debates took place that helped to know the proposals of the main candidates. On this occasion, however, it will be the only debate in which it will be possible to see the two candidates of the parties with the most votes in the last elections and those who the polls grant the most seats for 23J.
Moisés Ruiz, an expert in leadership and communication at the European University of Madrid, stresses that “this is a very important debate” because, according to him, “it must be taken into account that in all elections there are a large number of undecided to be very attentive to what happens” in the face to face. “It doesn’t matter so much what is said, but how it is said, and that is where all the spectators are going to be attentive”, emphasizes Ruiz.
In fact, in appointments like this, the keys are in what is not said with the voice, as the experts say. “A person can control his gaze and know how to direct it, or his gaze may shoot up a bit because he is thinking, and there is already a difference,” says María José Canel, professor and expert in political communication at the Complutense University. And it is that the eyes, the hands or the posture transmit more of us than what we say.
In this sense, María José Canel indicates that “the hands express the way in which the person vents his nerves, his tension.” In addition, she influences the dress: “The tie, for some voters, will show more credibility than not wearing a tie,” underlines the expert in political communication.
The ‘face to face’ structure
The candidates for the presidency of the Government will meet to discuss the hottest issues of the day and they will do so in a debate structured around four blocks: economy, social policy and equality; pacts and governance; and state, institutional and international policies.
All the blocks will have an order of intervention drawn between the two parties. In this sense, Vicente Vallés indicates that “Pedro Sánchez will have the first speaking turn, while Feijóo will have the last one, who will also end with the golden minute”.
In addition, politicians will not be able to use electronic devices, and each one will be able to be accompanied by a single adviser from their team on the set before the debate begins, and will be able to return to the set during the two short commercial breaks.
During the debate, Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo will be seated at a table, facing each other, favoring dialogue and the confrontation of ideas and proposals, while Ana Pastor and Vicente Vallés will be located at a joint lectern, outside the table, from where they will launch the issues that the blocks introduce and promote a debate that is expected to be intense.
The historic meeting between the President of the Government and the leader of the opposition, which will last approximately 100 minutes, can be seen through the main channels, stations and Atresmedia platform: laSexta, Antena 3, Onda Cero, Atresplayer and Antenna 3 International.
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