Pedro Sanchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo will be measured in the only face to face of the 23J campaign. He debate is decisive and although the two leaders have prepared it with very different strategies, both in Moncloa and in Genoa face it as one of the political moments with the greatest impact. The President of the Government cleared his agenda to prepare it thoroughly. Feijóo, on the other hand, took a mass bath this Sunday in Pontevedra, in the only bullring he will go to in these atypical elections in the middle of summer.
The two leaders are going to go on the attack, seeking to exhibit the inconsistencies of their competitor. But, unlike other face-to-faces between other candidates, they will not only face models. Also they will have to answer for their travel companions. Sánchez, for his coalition with Unidas Podemos and the parliamentary agreements with ERC and EH Bildu; Feijóo for the regional and municipal agreements with Vox.
All the polls show that the PP will win on 23J. This forces the President of the Government to be more daring to gain ground. The popular candidate has an advantage and can afford to risk less. What one and the other do is crucial. They will not meet again. Either for Sánchez or for Feijóo this electoral appointment is the last. It’s an all or nothing duel. In the case of Sánchez, the continuity of his political career depends on the result he obtains, on whether or not he manages to continue in Moncloa. For the Galician leader, 61 years old and after 14 at the head of the Xunta de Galicia, it will be to stop at this point or open a new stage.
Sánchez, locked up to prepare it
The president has been locked up with a group of people all weekend, including several ministers and people from his cabinet. But he is also taking the opportunity to prepare for the NATO and EU-CELAC summits. Moncloa sources admit that the debate “we take it very seriously” and “with absolute respect for the political adversary.” Nobody underestimates Feijóo anymore. “He has been in politics all his life and this gives him a very important background to face this debate. He is not a rookie,” they say in the party.
Sánchez has been dedicated to reviewing “data and arguments” because his purpose is to transmit “rigor” and “explanation”. “We have a clear model endorsed by the management of these years” and in front of him “We must know what Feijóo and his ultra ally propose”. The PSOE circulated this Sunday a video with promises that the socialist candidate made in the ‘face to face’ with Mariano Rajoy in 2015 and that have been fulfilled in the five years that he has been in the Government. In Moncloa and Ferraz they still trust that the good progress of the economy and employment and the social measures will help them.
And they believe that, unlike what happened in the regional and municipal elections of 28M, the rejection of Santiago Abascal ending up as vice president is now going to be decisive. “The main problem of the PP is the attitude of Vox”, they point out in the organization after the agreements in communities and mayors, in which the popular ones have assumed very radical profiles and issues, such as intrafamily violence, contrary to their own program.
This will be one of the great veins that Sánchez exploits in the debate: “It is about contrasting, not alternating, because we are not in that phase, but two country models that represent progress or regression”. “Go ahead, or retrace the path hand in hand with the ultras”, Ferraz sources point out. In the PSOE they think that a mobilization of the left is going to take place and they hope that the central vote now renounce the Galician leader for the understanding with Vox. The president will address these citizens: “We will continue with the hand outstretched to all those moderate Spaniards who have voted PP and they don’t understand Feijóo’s unconditional surrender to the extreme right”.
Feijóo, not to make mistakes
The leader of the PP, however, has given priority to maintaining his schedule of meetings. The most massive, in fact, played yesterday in the bullring of Pontevedra. In Genoa they assure that during the afternoons of Saturday, Sunday and this Monday day they will prepare it thoroughly. But Feijóo has been consulting papers, data and preparing some impacts for days. Won’t go low profile despite the fact that expectations are higher for the socialist. He will present his proposals and will attack the president from all angles under what he calls “the sanchismo & rdquor ;.
The Galician leader attends “with less pressure & rdquor; because the sensations seem more favorable for Sánchez. “The important is that nothing abnormal happens. If Sánchez doesn’t give us a big blow, the campaign is on track& rdquor;ditch in the PP.
In their closest environment they assure that an image has been generated “of a man from the provinces, discredited, who does not speak languages and almost, almost, who does not know how to debate & rdquor ;, they ironize. That, they consider, gives them an advantage: “Not making mistakes could be enough. A draw is a win for us.& rdquor ;, they assure.
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It is true that these days Feijóo has raised his tone with respect to Sánchez, even joking with the number of days he needs to prepare a debate after canceling his public events. “And that he wanted six & rdquor ;, he said at his rallies this weekend.
Although pacts with Vox they are long the most difficult matter for the Galician, the leader of the PP considers that “it will be positive & rdquor; if Sánchez focuses the debate on his alliances with Vox. Feijóo will leave “without complexes & rdquor; to talk about the pacts, focusing on those that have accompanied the President of the Government in this legislature, such as Podemos and the independentistas, and diluting those signed with Abascal in others, such as that of Cantabria, that of the Canary Islands or the investiture of López Miras in Murcia, which will have occurred hours before the face to face. He will remark, among other things, that a socialist is mayor of Barcelona “thanks to the PP& rdquor;They advance on Genoa.