PP candidate shuns TV debate on “biased” channel
Javier Arenas refuses head-to-head after Electoral Commission censures Canal Sur
The Popular Party (PP) candidate in the Andalusia regional elections, Javier Arenas, has refused to take part in a televised debate due to the "lack of neutrality" of the television station organizer, Canal Sur. "What I cannot do is participate in a debate on a channel that has been condemned by the Electoral Commission," Arenas said in allusion to Canal Sur's censure for broadcasting an unauthorized demonstration outside the PP's regional headquarters.
Canal Sur also fell foul of the commission for breaking electoral law by screening an image of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy during a report on a police operation against pedophilia.
Arenas had previously proved reluctant to go head-to-head with the Socialist (PSOE) incumbent José Antonio Griñán if the United Left was not also invited to the table. The responsibility for that omission, PP sources stated, "will have to be assumed by the PSOE." The PP is widely expected to win Andalusia, the last Socialist stronghold in Spain, on March 25.
