RTVE will hold next Monday, November 23, six days after the general elections of November 29N, an electoral debate with representatives of eight parliamentary forces. The meeting, moderated by Xabier Fortes, will begin at 22.00 hours and will bring together PP, PSOE, Vox, Frente Amplio, ERC, EH Bildu, PNV and Junts. The formation of Carles Puigdemont has finally confirmed its participation after it was initially reported that it had rejected the invitation.
The event will last 90 minutes and will make it possible to confront the proposals of the main parliamentary groups on housing, the economy, public services and possible post-election pacts. It will be broadcast live by La 1, Canal 24 Horas, Radio 5, RTVE.es and RTVE Play, while the rest of the media may request the institutional feed free of charge.
The eight representatives who will take part in the RTVE debate
The parties have confirmed the participation of their respective spokespersons and parliamentary representatives. For the PP, Ester Muñoz will attend, while the PSOE will be represented by Patxi López. Vox will send Pepa Millán and Frente Amplio will have Emilio Delgado, a candidate for Madrid.
Gabriel Rufián will also take part, for ERC; Oskar Matute, for EH Bildu; Maribel Vaquero, for the PNV; and Míriam Nogueras, for Junts.
The presence of this last formation was initially in doubt. RTVE had communicated that Junts would not take part, but later sources from the party clarified that a misunderstanding had occurred because its confirmation came outside the established deadline. Finally, Nogueras will be present at the meeting.
Three thematic blocks and a final minute to ask for the vote
The debate will be divided into three major sections. The first will address housing and the state of well-being, while the second will be dedicated to the economy, employment and infrastructure.
The third block will deal with the sociopolitical climate and pacts, an issue of particular relevance in view of the possible parliamentary agreements that could be negotiated after the elections.
At the end of the meeting, each participant will have a golden minute to address voters directly and request their support.
The order for opening and closing the three blocks, as well as that of the final interventions, will be decided by lot.
The debate adds to the face-to-face between Sánchez and Feijóo on November 19
The confirmation of the RTVE meeting coincides with the announcement of the face-to-face debate between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, scheduled for Thursday 19 November and organized by the Television Academy.
María Casado will moderate that meeting, which will feature five thematic blocks: housing, the economy and taxation, social policy and public services, the fight against corruption and democratic renewal, and migration and foreign policy.
The PP leader will open the face-to-face exchange, while the head of government will have the final turn.
The Television Academy is also working on organizing another debate with the candidates from the four main political forces, the details of which are still pending being specified.
The candidates multiply their appearances on entertainment programs
Conventional election debates will coexist during this campaign with an increasingly greater presence of candidates on entertainment programs and digital platforms.
In recent weeks, Pedro Sánchez, Santiago Abascal, Ada Colau, Gabriel Rufián, and Irene Montero have taken part in RTVE spaces such as La Revuelta and El perro andaluz, while Feijóo has gone to El Hormiguero and Horizonte.
Also gaining prominence is The Wild Project, the Jordi Wild podcast, which this Friday has published interviews with Sánchez, Feijóo, and Colau.
Santiago Abascal’s participation was also planned, but Vox cancelled the interview after demanding it be allowed to have the complete recording and to be able to use the candidate’s responses freely. The disagreement occurred after the controversy with RTVE and El Terrat over the 40 minutes that, as the party denounced, had been removed from its interview on La Revuelta.
This presence in spaces outside traditional news programming reflects the interest of the parties in connecting with audiences that consume political content mainly through social networks, video podcasts, and entertainment programs.
Meanwhile, the main networks maintain their programming of election debates, which will allow the candidates and parliamentary representatives to confront their proposals directly during the two weeks of the campaign.