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Legislative elections in Spain: a tense end of campaign where the right dominated the debates

It is a deleterious electoral campaign that ended this Friday evening in Spain, less than 48 hours before general elections that could well allow the Spanish right to return to power. The People's Party (PP) and its candidate, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, have been leading the polls for several weeks now. The Conservatives expect to win an absolute majority this Sunday, even if the polls only give them a relative majority.

The candidate of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Nunez Feijoo, during his meeting in Madrid, July 20, 2023. AFP - PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU

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With our special envoy in Madrid, Romain Lemaresquier

The PSOE, the Socialist Party, which runs the country with a left-wing coalition, is trying to convince the undecided, i.e. about 20% of the electorate. But the speeches of the various parties in recent days leave the image of a deleterious end to the campaign. Pedro Sanchez, the outgoing president of the government and head of the socialist list, knows that the mission is complicated. Behind in the polls, he therefore decided to change tactics before the end of the electoral campaign by adopting a very offensive discourse, directed exclusively against his main opponent, the conservative Alberto Nunez Feijoo.

He accuses him of being close to a certain Marcial Dorado, a Galician drug trafficker and smuggler convicted many times. Although the People's Party (PP) candidate admitted to having met him several times when he was in charge of the Galicia region, he explained that he did not know at the time that he was a drug trafficker.

After this attack by Pedro Sanchez that made the headlines of the Spanish press, Alberto Nunez Feijoo counterattacked, accusing the socialist candidate of having made pacts with the regionalist parties for the organization of referendums of self-determination in Catalonia and the Basque Country, referendums that would be organized if Pedro Sanchez remained in power.

American-style atmosphere at the last Madrid PP meeting

This Thursday evening, for his last electoral meeting in Madrid, it is in an atmosphere of electoral campaign to the American that arrived the candidate of the PP. Accompanied for the occasion by the mayor of Madrid and the president of the region, the muse of the Spanish right Isabel Diaz Ayuso, Alberto Nunez Feijoo again attacked Pedro Sanchez. A liar who has not respected his commitments and who leaves Spain in a critical economic situation and more divided than ever, according to him.

« 

I propose a future. The future is the opposite of "Sanchism". I propose a country you can trust, a government you can trust, and a president you can trust. And if I lie to you, I don't just ask you to fire me from the government, if I lie to you, I ask you to kick me out of the party," he told the crowd.

" READ ALSO Legislative in Spain: favorite of the polls, the right could ally with the far right

Alberto Nunez Feijoo plays the transparency card. After four terms at the head of the Galicia region, he wants to offer Spain a government that will work to undo what the outgoing coalition, led by the socialists, has put in place. "I want to offer you the Spanish government, but not to avenge us. But to change what is wrong and of course repeal. Even if we think they don't deserve to continue, either we vote on Sunday, or they stay," he warned. After this speech, the 5,000 or so people who came to attend this meeting seemed convinced that victory was reaching out to them, a victory that has been predicted for weeks by almost all polls.

«Alberto Nunez Feijoo has for him by impeccable management in the region of Galicia»

In Madrid, Marcelo, 28, an engineer, came to attend the last meeting in the capital of Alberto Nunez Feijoo, before a final round for the candidate of the People's Party (PP) held in A Coruña on Friday evening. It is certain that victory extends its arms to the Conservatives. "First of all, I think of the dream that has awakened in people in Madrid in such a short time and throughout Spain. Alberto Nunez Feijoo has for him by impeccable management in the region of Galicia and a team for the government that, I believe, arriving at the Moncloa, the government palace, will undertake a 180º turn for this country," he says. If the party does not win an absolute majority, there is talk of a coalition with the far right of Vox. This hypothesis does not frighten him. "I think any decision taken in favour of the Spaniards will be the best decision that can be made. If the decision is to make a pact with Vox to be able to form a government and move the country forward, it seems to me that this is the fairest thing," he concludes.

The Spaniards little mobilized during the campaign

This campaign has not been able to attract voters already dissatisfied with the fact that these elections are organized in the middle of summer and in the middle of the holiday period. None of the main parties has been able to present its programme. The PP has constantly criticised the outgoing executive, as has Vox, the far-right party, while on the left, the threat of a coalition between the conservative PP and Vox was brandished.

See alsoSpain: women mobilized in Valencia against Vox

We are confident because an entire country cannot be wrong. Either we move forward or it's a dark step backwards.

01:11

The last meeting of the socialist head of government Pedro Sanchez

Diane Cambon

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