Spain’s prime minister spurned the country’s first pre-election debate of its kind on Monday, an empty lectern on stage marking his no-show as other candidates made repeated digs he was unable to defend.
Ciudadanos Party presidential candidate Albert Rivera, Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party presidential candidate Pedro Sanchez and left-wing Podemos presidential candidate Pablo Iglesias had sometimes heated exchanges for close to two hours, in an unprecedented debate for a country long used to bi-party politics.
The topics debated included corruption, unemployment, austerity and an independence movement in Catalonia — sone of the hot-button issues that have hit the country during Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s four-year-term, and while criticism flew on all sides, the prime minister was by far the main recipient ahead of legislative elections on Dec. 20.
“I regret that the prime minister is not here as I would love to remind him that the police searched the headquarters of his party for 14 hours,” Iglesias said as the candidates discussed corruption.
Sanchez said that Rajoy had been “absent” over the past four years, describing him as looking the other way “while problems grew and grew.”
The economy — and particularly unemployment which stands at about 22 percent — was one of the main topics up for debate in a country that is only just starting to recover from a devastating crisis.
Rivera put forward the creation of a single employment contract system to try and iron out differences between those in stable jobs and others in precarious positions.
Iglesias called for help for small and medium-sized enterprises, while all three urged reforms to allow the return of qualified Spaniards from abroad.
This was the third debate between Rivera and Iglesias, who at 36 and 37 respectively are the country’s new, young political stars.
However, it was the first to include Sanchez — who is considered the main opposition candidate despite a weekend poll putting him neck-and-neck with Rivera.
Rajoy declined to participate in the debate organized by the El Pais daily and broadcast online, choosing instead to attend a one-on-one televised interview.
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