Spain’s PP, PSOE, appeal to voter’s feelings before election

Spain has already entered a heated pre-election campaign where the two main rival parties, Partido Popular (PP/EPP) and the Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D), are launching messages aimed at the ‘heart’ of voters, appealing to their deep feelings and emotions.

One of the most controversial issues is the electoral debates between the leader of the centre-right party and prime minister candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Spain’s acting Prime Minister and socialist leader Pedro Sánchez and with other top candidates.

Faced with Feijóo´s lack of enthusiasm, Sánchez said last week that the PP leader has no real desire to take part in these “face-to-face” (“cara a cara”) debates, as they have been dubbed in the media.

“For Feijóo, debates are like gyms in January. One signs up but never attends”, commented Sánchez.

Last Thursday, PSOE sent letters to four major Spanish media outlets – both public and private – accepting Sánchez’s participation in the debates. However, the PP has not given a clear response.

Sánchez, a ‘journalist’ prime minister

While PP has not yet fully committed, PSOE has decided to launch a new television format: the “journalist prime minister”.

The progressive formation has organised a series of broadcasts in which Sánchez is the “anchor” and interviews several of his ministers, whom he asks about the policies approved by the progressive coalition government and their proposals for the future.

In the series’ first two episodes, broadcast a week ago, the guests were the Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, and the Agriculture Minister, Luis Planas.

However, this novel formula has not gone down well with the opposition. The conservative press has compared it to the broadcast “Aló Presidente”, starring the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez between 1999 and 2012, for its allegedly excessively self-congratulatory tone and in a “Talk Show” style, radio station Onda Cero reported.

PSOE sources defend the usefulness of these original interviews, whose aim, they claim, is to bring the socialist party’s proposals closer to the population in a sympathetic and direct way.

‘Working with…’

The first series of “Sánchez Reporter”, entitled “Working with” (“De trabajo con…”), can be seen live and recorded on PSOE´s official YouTube channel. It can also be seen on the PSOE’s Twitter (live and recorded) and Instagram profiles.

All the topics covered are issues that matter to citizens. As an example, one of the questions Sánchez asked the Social Security Minister was whether, should the PSOE win the elections, the future government (perhaps in coalition with the new Sumar platform) will approve an extension of the current paternity and maternity leave.

At another point in the interview, Sánchez touches on the sensitive issue of pension sustainability.

“We have already revalued pensions with the CPI and now we have to fill the pension fund, don’t we?” Sánchez asked. “That’s right. This year 3,000 million”, replies the Minister.

‘Beach umbrella war’ and copyright problems

Meanwhile, what seemed like an innocent advertising campaign to ask people to vote for the PP, called “Verano Azul” (Blue Summer), has ended in a bitter controversy between the Spanish public television (RTVE) and the leadership of the centre-right party.

The public broadcaster accused the PP last Friday of unlawful use of the name (“Verano Azul” is a trademark owned by RTVE) and urged the centre-right party not to register it in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) as “Verano Azul PP”.

The PP has assured that it will go ahead with the campaign, despite RTVE’s threats to take the conservative party to court.

“We have everything legally tied up: RTVE knows that its television rights over the brand are compatible with the use we make of the concept ‘blue summer PP’,” Partido Popular sources told EFE.

The PSOE has not kept silent about the campaign either. It responded to the PP with a video showing dozens of blue umbrellas flying uncontrollably across the sand. Sources from the progressive party explained on Friday that it is “the wind of the left”, which is blowing away the electoral aspirations of the PP.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)