Live blog | The #ELPAISDebate, as it happened

Political leaders Pedro Sánchez, Pablo Iglesias and Albert Rivera went head-to-head live on elpais.com last night to discuss their proposals. Prime Minister Rajoy opted not to take part

Dec 01, 2015 - 09:55CET

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On Monday night, EL PAÍS hosted the first Spanish election debate to be broadcast via its website. The pioneering initiative represents a milestone in the history of political debates in Spain, and fired the starting pistol for the race to reach La Moncloa prime ministerial palace for the lead candidates from three of Spain’s major political parties: Pedro Sánchez, of the Socialist Party (PSOE); Albert Rivera, from Ciudadanos; and Pablo Iglesias, from Podemos. EL PAÍS also invited Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the Popular Party candidate for the election, but he declined to take part.

That concludes this live blog of the #ELPAISDebate. We will return tomorrow morning with analysis

Simon Hunter23:00

After patiently observing the request for silence, the audience is given permission to applaud the candidates!

Simon Hunter22:59

Sánchez "Together we will do it again"

Simon Hunter22:59

Sánchez: "The PSOE has done a great deal in recent decades"

Simon Hunter22:58

Iglesias "The next decade is at stake at these elections"

Simon Hunter22:57

Iglesias: "I am not going to ask for your votes. That seems to me like the old way of politics"

Simon Hunter22:57

Rivera: "Times of change are coming."

Simon Hunter22:56

Rivera "We need to get back the best of Spain"

Simon Hunter22:56

Rivera "We need a new project for Spain. It won"t be easy."

Simon Hunter22:56

Iglesias: PM should earn the same as a tax inspector

Simon Hunter22:54

Rivera and Sánchez avoiding giving a figure on their salary as PM

Simon Hunter22:53

Rivera "Prime minister should earn a higher salary than a regional premier"

Simon Hunter22:53

Sánchez "My bank accounts are one click away on the Socialist webpage"

Simon Hunter22:51

Iglesias: "Local councils are, in our opinion, the most important"

Simon Hunter22:49

Rivera: "We are proposing the closure of provincial governments and the merging of councils"

Simon Hunter22:48

Debate ending with all three candidates and moderator trying to talk at once

Simon Hunter22:44

"Don"t interrupt me again Pedro, don"t interrupt me again" Pablo Iglesias has had enough of Sánchez"s interjections

Simon Hunter22:44

Albert Rivera "We need to return power to the citizens and get rid of the tentacles of the PSOE and the PP"

Simon Hunter22:43

Pablo Iglesias "It"s not expensive to rescue citizens. What"s expensive is [corruption case] Púnica"

Simon Hunter22:36

Pablo Iglesias: "I would like to remind Mariano Rajoy that the police spent 14 hours searching his party headquarters."

Simon Hunter22:34

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