The president of the Government and PSOE candidate for re-election, Pedro Sánchez, has criticized the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, for not speaking English or having made an effort to learn it, and has taken the opportunity to underline what he considers a lack of knowledge about pensions on the part of the Vox leader, Santiago Abascal. "These are the ones from the culture of effort," he has mocked.
At the official start of the election campaign, during a rally in Arnedo (La Rioja), Sánchez contrasted the capabilities of his Government and his ministers with what, in his view, are the weaknesses of the top officials of PP and Vox.
To do this, he referred to the recent interview of Feijóo with the 'youtuber' Jordi Wild, where the popular leader acknowledged that he does not master English and has not dedicated time to studying it. In that conversation, the PP leader said that although he considers it desirable for a president of the Government in 2026 to be able to handle this language, in his case he has prioritized the country's internal problems over learning foreign languages. "I don't know English, but I know how to govern and I don't insult in any language," the 'popular' candidate defended himself.
Sánchez has taken advantage of these words to joke about Feijóo's attitude toward the Presidency of the Government: "These are the ones from the culture of effort, let's see if it turns out that Feijóo is not president because he doesn't want to," he said, then linking it to his reproaches to Abascal for what he interprets as a lack of knowledge about the public pensions system, as a result of his appearance on David Broncano's 'La Revuelta' program.
The head of the Executive has emphasized the rapport that, according to him, exists between the two right-wing leaders: "They're a pair, one isn't president because he doesn't want to and the other isn't vice president because he doesn't know," Sánchez said, who handles English fluently. In addition, he recalled that in the general elections on November 29 it will also be decided who will occupy the Vice Presidency of the Government, posing the choice between Abascal and the socialist Carlos Cuerpo. "That one really does know about Economics and a few languages," he highlighted.
The photos with Marcial Dorado and the interviews avoided
In the same intervention, Sánchez has once again brought up Feijóo’s relationship with Marcial Dorado, after the PP leader stated on the Jordi Wild program that he did not know that he was a drug trafficker when he was photographed with him on a pleasure boat three decades ago.
The president has recalled that Dorado was arrested in 1990 and has emphasized that the summer images alongside Feijóo were taken afterwards. "Today he has the nerve to say that in 1995 he did not know that Marcial Dorado was a drug trafficker," he has reproached, insisting that he has mentioned these photographs on numerous occasions in order to question the criteria of the popular leader.
Sánchez has also criticized that Abascal was the only one of the four main candidates for the Presidency who declined to go on Jordi Wild’s show "because he couldn’t choose the audience," he noted, adding a criticism that he avoided that format.
Likewise, he has criticized Feijóo for refusing an interview with RTVE journalist Silvia Intxaurrondo, whom the PP leader has not agreed to submit to in this campaign. "And then I’m the dictator," he said, referring to the accusations of authoritarianism that he receives from the opposition.
Call to participate and the goal of an absolute majority
In the final stretch of his speech, Sánchez asked for the vote to stop the "journey to the past" that, according to him, would mean a coalition executive between PP and Vox led by Feijóo, with Abascal as a partner.
The socialist candidate has set specific goals for both voter turnout and parliamentary representation for his party. He has called for broad citizen mobilization with the aim of achieving "75% voter turnout" at the polls on 29N, with the goal of securing an absolute majority of "176 seats" for the PSOE in the Congress.