PP chiefs dodge debate during early rounds of electioneering

Following four days of campaigning ahead of the May 22 regional and municipal elections, the central theme has become clear: the Socialists (PSOE) have moved to mobilize their support base by instilling fear of the Popular Party (PP), while Mariano Rajoy, the conservative group's leader, has been keeping a low profile to avoid fomenting voter unease.

Rajoy studiously sidestepped interrogation at a rally in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Monday, and a PP spokesman, invoking the party's "freedom" to call press conferences, hinted that the conservative leader would keep his counsel throughout the campaign.

In 2008, the PP leader engaged in debate with Prime Minister José Rodríguez Zapatero, but then went on to lose the general election. This may explains the PP's reticence to be drawn into public discussion.

Zapatero began a war of words on Monday over the welfare state, attempting to lay Spain's economic woes firmly at the PP's feet. "They would not have avoided the crisis or unemployment, and there would have certainly been less protection for the unemployed and less social protection," he said.

Zapatero reminded the PP that it was during its watch that a growth model based on bricks and mortar, the foundation of the current recession, was implemented. The prime minister's words echoed the attack plan of Tomás Gómez, PSOE candidate for the regional premiership of Madrid, during a highly stylized debate with incumbent Esperanza Aguirre and United Left candidate Gregorio Gordo on Telemadrid, the channel controlled by the PP-run administration. "You govern for business, not for the people," Gómez charged.

The PSOE party secretary has challenged Aguirre to a one-on-one exchange, a gauntlet thus far left untouched by the serving premier.