PSOE proposes the TV Academy organise Sánchez-Feijóo debates if PP keeps refusing RTVE

The PSOE proposal

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) proposed on Monday, 9 November, that the Academia de Televisión y de las Ciencias y las Artes del Audiovisual organise the face-to-face debate between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, along with a four-candidate debate, should the People's Party (PP) keep refusing to take part in a debate run by RTVE, the public broadcaster. The party set out the offer in a statement, reaffirming what it called a firm commitment to democratic debate and to citizens' right to compare political projects before the general election. The Academy is chaired by María Casado and, according to La Vanguardia, has already organised debates in the 2015 and 2019 general elections. The PSOE presents the idea as a fallback rather than its first choice.

What the PSOE wants from the PP

The party still considers it indispensable that one of the debates takes place on public television, organised by RTVE, while a second debate could be run by one of the large private media groups. It asks the PP to accept one of the two formats RTVE has proposed for the leading candidates, either the one-on-one or the debate among the four main parties. The statement also says the party is fully willing to debate on RTVE in either format. The statement puts the principle in these terms.

“Debating without exclusivities and without excluding any television channel, especially the public one, remains a non-negotiable principle.”

El Periódico reports that, according to Ferraz, the party headquarters, the Academy formula would give all media a neutral signal they could use freely. The party has argued that this approach guarantees the same open feed to every broadcaster that wants to carry the debates.

Regional broadcasters and the PP's stance

The PSOE points out that PP leaders do take part in debates on regional public channels, naming Juanma Moreno Bonilla, president of Andalusia, who debates on Canal Sur, and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, who debates on Telemadrid. It accuses Feijóo of being the only PP leader who insists on blocking the public broadcaster. El Confidencial reports that the PP had shown resistance to holding a debate on Televisión Española over doubts about its impartiality. The same outlet notes that the PSOE, second in the poll consensus, is the party most interested in holding such encounters.

Competing dates and the campaign calendar

Mediaset had scheduled a face-to-face debate for 16 November, and El Confidencial reports that the Socialists had not yet said whether they would attend it. Atresmedia moved the four-party debate it had offered to the main parties to 23 November, so that it would not coincide with the date planned by RTVE. According to La Vanguardia, the campaign officially opens on Thursday night, 12 November, and the general election is set for 29 November. El Confidencial also notes that the Academy proposal would leave private channels out of the formula.