At times, the RTVE debate seemed like a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted by Death. Everyone was talking about Alberto Núñez Feijóo - up to 22 times he was mentioned on the set - but the character did not end up appearing. Like the spy George Kaplan in the film, who is mistaken for an advertising executive played by Cary Grant. Also in the debate Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz tried to pass off Santiago Abascal as Feijóo-Kaplan, because they defined him as their representative in front of the cameras. But it wasn't, even though they both shared invisibility in the script.
Was Feijóo right to refuse to go to RTVE? Surely not: he granted a second chance to Pedro Sánchez, allowed the president and Yolanda Díaz to appear as a solid ticket and even gave the impression that Santiago Abascal is not as fierce as they make him out to be. In addition, the debate took place in a respectful atmosphere - nothing to do with face to face -, they did not step on each other in the interventions and each one explained what he wanted. The discussion was so Versailles-esque that the presenter, Xabier Fortes, encouraged them to debate more intensely - and even to interrupt each other - when they had been in the program for twenty minutes without a single spark flying. The most tense moments occurred when gender violence was discussed and Díaz told Abascal not to be afraid of him and to stop laughing at women, while the leader of Vox asked her and Sánchez what they understood by a woman.
The leader of the PP leads the polls and did not want to risk more debates. It was a perfectly designed strategy. But it did not have the expected effect. His absence was not understood and the civilized tone of the discussion put the spotlight on his person, which brought the face-to-face into impassable terrain. The high audience - almost a 30% share - shows that it was interesting. Sánchez took advantage of his absence to reproach him that he had not gone because he was ashamed to appear next to his partner.
It may be that the cost of his absence is less, but it turned out to be an act of manifest weakness to watch it from the sofa at home instead of being in the pulpit, sweeping.
