Politicians prepare to keep up appearances as election day approaches

YOLANDA DIAZ, leader of recently-formed Sumar, a coalition of the Left-of-PSOE parties, was reportedly looking forward to a four-way political debate on July 19.

It won’t happen the way she wanted, as the PP’s presidential candidate Alberto Nuñez Feijoo turned down the invitation. Although Diaz’s a good debater who will enjoy sparring with Vox’s leader Santiago Abascal, it will nevertheless be tricky with Pedro Sanchez, president of Spain’s PSOE-UP coalition government to which Diaz belongs as acting Minister of Labour.

Meanwhile a head-to-head debate between Sanchez and the PP leader is lined up for July 10.

A seven-party free-for-all is scheduled for July 13 which the PSOE is insisting should feature the parties’ spokesmen and women although the PP is holding out for leaders.

This would put Sanchez side by side with parliamentary allies who include Bildu – once the political arm of the now-disbanded Basque terrorist group ETA – Esquerra Republicana, the Catalan separatist party (although less unilaterally separatist than Junts) and the acting government’s practically defunct coalition member, Podemos.

It’s an astute move, as these parties, despite helping to shore up Sanchez, are not to the liking of middle-of-the road socialists.

Without casting aspersions on expats’ Spanish levels, few are going to tune in to these debates.  But the principal players’ performances could influence the undecided, much-wooed, much-needed floating voters who bother to go out on July 23 (predicted average temperature 35 degrees).

Let’s go back 30 years to the week  before the June 1993 general election when polls gave PP 84.1 per cent of the vote and the PSOE 64.2 per cent. The socialists won the election.

The predictions could have been wildly inaccurate, but it’s undeniable that the PSOE’s candidate Felipe Gonzalez made a much better showing than the PP’s candidate Jose Maria Aznar in their last televised debate.  Nobody from either side has ever forgotten that.

Pact pax

PACTS between the PP and Vox have put them into countless local councils and several regional governments.

There’s been less focus on the pacts between the PP and PSOE which put the socialists in control at Barcelona city hall although separatist Junts were the most-voted.  Another agreement meant that Vitoria in the Basque region has a PSOE mayor, Maider Etxebarria, after the PP voted in favour of a coalition with the PNV nationalist party that would guarantee the exclusion of Bildu.

The PP’s “very clear principles and lines” had prevented Bildu from governing in situations where the party could prevent it, the party’s secretary general, Cuca Gamarra told the ABC newspaper on July 1.

“Without expecting anything in return, this party managed to ensure that in Barcelona neither Ada Colau nor those who are pro-independence are in local government. Or in Vitoria,” Gamarra said.

“We have opted for stability and agreements based on putting the general interest above ourselves. This sets us apart and shows that Feijoo is not Pedro Sanchez,” she declared.

“We are guaranteeing governability where we have the responsibility and capacity to govern.  But we also value our capacity for dialogue and agreement with different political forces.”