• Electoral debate: Pedro Sánchez pretends hardness but does not deny the independence
  • Comment: Who is the winner of the electoral debate?
  • Opinion.Ruido and fury in November, by Jorge Bustos
  • Opinion: Dispute in the center right, by Lucía Méndez
  • Editorial.The escapism of Pedro Sánchez
  • Opinion.Catalonia, on the target, by Martí Sabals

It is already customary after an electoral debate to analyze the claims of the candidates during the same to see if everything they have said is true or they have strained some 'lie' than another. In the electoral debate last night the lies and half truths were not lacking . These are some of those that were said last night:

The Constitution does not link pensions to the CPI

The leader of United Podemos, Pablo Iglesias , said during the electoral debate that the revaluation of pensions is guaranteed by the Constitution , but it is false, since the Magna Carta only says that pensions will be updated periodically, without specifying whether it should be done according to the CPI.

Checker

THE PHRASE : Article 50 of the Spanish Constitution says that pensions have to be revalued according to the consumer price index.

THE REALITY : The Magna Carta makes no reference to the CPI. The aforementioned article 50 is limited to saying that "the public authorities shall guarantee, by means of adequate and periodically updated pensions , the economic sufficiency to the citizens during the third age"

Catalonia already applies the reinforced majority for TV3

At the beginning of the debate, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez , pledged to ensure that the Board of Directors of the entity to which TV3 belongs is elected by two thirds of the Parliament with a reform of the General Audiovisual Law, but this requirement already It appears in a recent Catalan law.

Checker

THE PHRASE : "We are going to modify the General Audiovisual Law so that the Boards of Directors of all public communication entities are approved by a two-thirds endorsement of their regional Parliaments; with that we will end the sectarian use that is being done by part of the Catalan independence movement in the case of TV3 ".

THE REALITY : It is false that it is necessary to modify the General Audiovisual Law to guarantee a council of the Catalan radio television approved by a majority of two thirds of the Parliament. The Plenary of the Autonomous Chamber modified last October 23 the law that regulates the Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual Media so that its president and his advisors have to be elected by a qualified majority of two thirds.

The personal income tax does not subtract half of the salary in any Autonomous Community

The leader of Citizens, Albert Rivera , proposed during the electoral debate that the IRPF "does not get to take half of the salary" in some autonomous communities, but that does not happen in any Spanish region .

Checker

THE PHRASE : "A reasonable income tax, which is not confiscatory , that does not get to take half of the salary in some communities to people who work with the sweat of their forehead."

THE REALITY: It is false. The state maximum marginal rate is 45% and reaches 48% in Andalusia, Asturias, Cantabria, Catalonia, Rioja and Comunidad Valenciana , but that does not mean that taxpayers give that percentage over their total salary to the Tax Agency, but only over the maximum stretch.

The personal income tax is a progressive tax by which the marginal rate that corresponds to each tranche of income of the labor is applied, with which the types of personal income tax do not apply in a fixed way on the total income generated, reports Efe.

In this way, a taxpayer with a salary of 70,000 euros per year will not pay the maximum rate of 45% for the total income, but will pay 19% for the first 12,450 euros, 24% between 12,451 and 20,200 euros, the 30% between 20,201 and 35,200 euros, 37% between 35,201 and 60,000 euros, and 45% between 60,001 and 70,000 euros.

Pedralbes did not criticize the Police or the Monarchy

The Popular Party candidate, Pablo Casado , said that the Declaration of Pedralbes defined the security forces as repressors, qualified the monarchy as a Francoist and denied judicial independence, but none of these statements appear in the document agreed by the Government with the Generalitat.

Checker

THE PHRASE : "Why not withdraw the Declaration of Pedralbes, in which it was said that an international rapporteur was needed, that the Monarchy was Franco, that the Civil Guard and the National Police were repressive forces , that justice was not independent ? "he told Sánchez.

THE REALITY : It is false that the Declaration of Pedralbes, the joint communiqué that the Sánchez Government agreed with the Catalan Executive on December 20, 2018, included allusions to the monarchy or the security forces. Nor to judicial independence.

As for the "international rapporteur", this figure is not mentioned in the Pedralbes Declaration. Yes, there is talk of a "person in charge of facilitating dialogue " at the "party table", which, according to the document, "will be the one who facilitates the coordination of the work, of the calls, and sets the agenda."

1.3% of complaints of abuse were filed

The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, said that the Organic Law on Integral Protection Measures against Gender Violence has made many men guilty and that there are 86% of complaints filed, a false fact since this percentage is barely of 1.3% .

Checker

THE PHRASE : "The law has not served to reduce the number of murders, it has served to make many men guilty and there are 86% of complaints filed."

THE REALITY : According to the 2018 Report on Gender Violence of the General Council of the Judiciary , 385 of the 29,028 sentences handed down were definitely archived, representing 1.3%. This report, prepared by the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence , reveals that of the total sentences handed down, 57.14% were convictions (16,586).

70% of those arrested for sexual crimes are Spanish

Santiago Abascal said during the electoral debate that 70% of those accused of sexual crimes are foreigners . But it is false because 70.1% of those arrested or investigated for crimes against freedom and sexual compensation are Spanish

Checker

THE PHRASE : "After the 2006 pack there have been more than 100 herds in Spain and 70% of those charged are foreigners."

THE REALITY : It is not true. According to the Report on crimes against freedom and Sexual Indemnity in Spain of 2017, 70.1% of those arrested or investigated for sexual crimes were Spanish, compared with 29.9% of foreigners.

In addition, according to statistics for sexual crimes in 2017 of the CGPJ, of the total of 2,816 convicted, 2,107 were Spanish and the rest foreigners .

Spain has not been losing birth for 40 years

Albert Rivera said during the debate that for 40 years this country has been losing birth. Actually the statement is not entirely true .

Checker

THE PHRASE : "We have the right to study but we don't have the right to start a family. For 40 years this country has been losing birth ."

THE REALITY : Rivera collects the data of the statistics of the INE regarding births. It is true that birth rate is at historical lows, but it has not fallen during the last 40 years, since it had a significant rebound between 1998 and 2008 .

Since the third quarter of 2018, 530,000 new jobs have not been created

The acting government president, Pedro Sánchez , said during the debate that the socialist government has created 530,000 new jobs since the third quarter of last year. The data is false.

Checker

THE PHRASE : "Since the third quarter of 2018 we have created 530,000 new jobs."

THE REALITY : In the third quarter of 2018 there were 19,528,000 people working, according to data from the Active Population Survey , while in the third quarter of this year the figure amounted to 19,874,000, bringing the real figure of the jobs generated since the third quarter of 2018 is 346,000 .

Iglesias has not voted 4 times against Sánchez

The President of the Government affirmed during the debate that Pablo Iglesias has voted four times against the formation of a progressive Government. The statement is false.

Checker

THE PHRASE : "Mr. Iglesias what he wants to hide is that he has voted 4 times against, and look that I have bad luck, that there is a progressive government in Spain ."

THE REALITY : Pablo Iglesias voted against the investiture of Sánchez twice in 2016 , once in favor of the 2018 motion of censure and abstained in 2019. So in reality they are twice the ones he has voted against A progressive government.

The Social Security box is not empty

The leader of Citizens , Albert Rivera, said during the debate when referring to aging in Spain that the Social Security box is empty for pensions . It is not true.

Checker

THE PHRASE : "The Social Security box is empty for our pensions."

THE REALITY : Rivera was referring to the so-called pension piggy bank . Before the crisis the pension piggy bank had 66,000 million, now it has 5,043 million , which would have to be subtracted from 3,000 million that the Minister of Labor has already announced that she will have to take out for the extra Christmas. So by the end of the year, although very depleted, there will still be 1.5 billion euros .

The Police do use rubber balls

The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, said during the debate that in the early days of the violent riots in Catalonia the Police were not allowed to use riot gear. Actually it is not so because they did use rubber balls from the beginning .

Checker

THE PHRASE : "The National Police were not allowed in the first few days to use riot gear to defend themselves."

THE REALITY : On the afternoon of October 14, thousands of protesters gathered at El Prat Airport where there were numerous incidents that the agents dissolved by launching rubber balls , as confirmed by the National Police to the Efe agency.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • General elections
  • Spain
  • Politics
  • Pablo Casado
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Santiago Abascal Count
  • Albert rivera

General elections 2019 Who won the electoral debate?

Television The electoral debate loses bellows and falls below the previous two with 8.6 million viewers

Spain Pedro Sánchez dismisses Albert Rivera's proposal as inconsistent because "if he adds more seats with rights, he throws the PSOE"