Feijóo assures that he does not attend the RTVE debate because the PSOE "vetoed" ERC, Bildu and PNV: "It is a semi-debate"

He assures that "there was never" a president of the Government who did not win the elections but admits that it would not be "illegitimate" if the PP does not add up

MADRID, 19 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has assured that he is not attending the debate organized tonight by RTVE because the PSOE "vetoed" ERC, Bildu and PNV, "partners" of Pedro Sánchez in this legislature. For this reason, he has stressed that he will not attend this "semi-debate" which, in his opinion, the ERC leader, Oriol Junqueras, and the general coordinator of Bildu, Arnaldo Otegi, should attend so that they can transfer their referendum demands to Pedro Sánchez and the socialist candidate clarify what he will do in that case.

In an interview in La Sexta, which has been collected by Europa Press, Feijóo explained that his break on this campaign day is due to the fact that he suffered low back pain on Tuesday and added that he hopes to "endure" the days remaining until the elections on Sunday .

The 'popular' candidate has indicated that he does not attend the RTVE debate because he is a "predictable" person and the PSOE has "vetoed" that ERC, Bildu and PNV can be in that television duel. "If we can't all be there, let those who want to go debate, but the PSOE in this case has vetoed the possibility that the seven parties that play in this possible political alternation can all be debating," he emphasized.

After Junqueras has promised "simultaneous self-determination referendums" in Catalonia and the Basque Country, Feijóo has stated that "Mr. Junqueras had to be" in tonight's debate, as well as the coordinator of Bildu, Arnaldo Otegi, so that "they could tell Mr. Sánchez what they said at the rally" and that the Prime Minister "explain what he is going to do" given what "his partners" demand.

"That is why this debate simply becomes a semi-debate and the pro-independence parties that support the government are censored," criticized Feijóo, who has promised not to hold any illegal referendum and to classify it as a crime if it comes to La Moncloa.

The 'popular' candidate has stressed that Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz Díaz "are not going to have 176 deputies and, therefore, "to complement those deputies they need ERC, Bildu, Junts" and "any minority that can help them" .

"Therefore, if what the government partners want to discuss with each other, it can be very entertaining to listen to Mrs. Díaz criticize Mr. Sánchez and at the same time Mr. Sánchez say that he is going to govern in any case with Mrs. Díaz, but I think the Spaniards know perfectly well that this is not a debate, it is simply a program where three leaders are going to speak, with another four missing, those who have not had the chance to be invited," he complained.

Regarding his statements appealing to vote for the PP so that Sánchez cannot "disturb democracy" and if he considers that it would be an illegitimate government if in the end the PP wins but does not add up, Feijóo has recognized that "of course not" it would be a Illegitimate government, given that, as he has said, "in parliamentary systems the president is elected by the majority of the votes of the House."

However, he stressed that in Spain "a president who has lost the elections has never appeared for the investiture." In fact, he recalled that after the 1996 general elections, Felipe González (PSOE) lost by "a narrow margin" with respect to José María Aznar (PP) and could "have tried to agree with the PNV and with CiU", but "he declined that possibility".

In this sense, he has stressed that it is "very important" that "the president of the Spanish Government is the one who wins the elections and not the one who loses them" and for this reason he recalled that he offered Pedro Sánchez that if the PP loses he will facilitate his investiture in case of winning, if "he does not agree with the independentistas".

"And I think that reciprocally if I win the elections and the PP is the list with the most votes, I ask for that reciprocity so that there is not an anomaly in the democratic history of my country," he declared, to point out that it is not "illegitimate" if Sánchez comes second and adds more parliamentary support than the PP, but it would be the government "of someone who lost the elections." "It has never happened, it is never", he added.

At this point, Feijóo has indicated that he continues to "reach out" so that the president of the government of Spain is the one who wins the general elections, something that, in his opinion, is "playing without cheating or cardboard." What's more, he has said that with his proposal if Sánchez wins "he would have it easy" and "he would not even need to seek support" in Bildu or in ERC.

When asked if the PP trusts the cleanliness of the postal voting process, after Correos has said that it has already delivered 100% of the documentation, Feijóo has replied that "without a doubt" because he has directed that company and knows the "professionalism" of the postmen.

Having said this, he explained that the Post Office unions have pointed out "constantly and continuously" that there has been "mismanagement in the hiring of personnel in this month of July" when there were "record requests for voting by mail."

"We still do not know exactly how many votes are in the offices because the postmen have not been successful in finding the people at their homes," he said, to reiterate that he trusts the company and that he criticizes the PP for echoing the complaints of the unions seems to him "an apology from a bad payer".

When asked about Yolanda Díaz's statements assuring that the PP has "a hidden agenda" in economic matters if it governs, Feijóo explained that what the PP wants is to "reduce the tax burden on workers, low incomes and the middle incomes", and that it is not from the OECD countries in which the most purchasing power has been lost.

In addition, he has assured that his party wants the country to grow, create jobs and help the self-employed. In his opinion, that Spain is among the countries with the "greatest risk of poverty", he believes that the economic policy of the Government of PSOE and United We Can "has not worked".