Corruption and bailout ignite Spain’s election as Pedro Sanchez rows with PM Rajoy

A debate before Sunday’s Spanish general election exploded into an angry row on Monday night when the opposition leader accused prime minister Mariano Rajoy of not being a “decent” man and said he should have quit over a corruption scandal in his party.

The humdrum election campaign burst into drama when Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez attacked Rajoy over alleged high-level corruption and accused him of lying over his government’s economic record.

A red-faced Rajoy angrily rejected his charges. “If you continue to be prime minister, the cost for our democracy... will be enormous, because the prime minister, Mr Rajoy, has to be a decent person and you are not,” said Sanchez in a televised debate watched by millions.

Sanchez also accused Rajoy of lying by saying Spain had avoided a bailout under his tenure.

While Spain dodged a sovereign bailout in 2012, it did receive around €40bn in European aid for its nationalised banks.

Spain’s economy is picking up after a severe economic and banking crisis but unemployment remains over 20% and Spaniards are angry over high-profile cases of corruption, some linked to Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP).

“You are young. You are going to lose these elections,” Rajoy, 60, told his 43-year-old rival.

“You can recover from an election loss, but you can’t recover from the contemptible, mean and despicable statement you have made here today.”

The debate was a late chance for both men to bolster their support in the face of an unprecedented challenge from new parties to Rajoy’s centre-right PP and Sanchez’s Socialists, which have together dominated Spanish politics since the end of the Franco dictatorship in the 1970s.

Polls show Rajoy’s party ahead but short of a parliamentary majority, while new parties, anti-austerity Podemos (‘We can’) or centrist Ciudadanos (‘Citizens’) challenge the Socialists for second place. The most likely outcome appears a coalition or minority government.

The debate got acrimonious when Sanchez touched on a corruption case that erupted in 2013 when the PP’s former treasurer told a judge that he collected millions in cash donations from construction magnates and distributed them to senior PP figures, including Rajoy.

Rajoy has denied that he or the PP had accepted illegal payments.

Rajoy turned down invitations to take part in debates with the up-and-coming parties, agreeing only to debate with Sanchez.

Pablo Iglesias, leader of anti-austerity Podemos, said the debate was an anachronism. “The two-party system no longer exists,” he said.

Albert Rivera, leader of business-friendly Ciudadanos, also declared the two-party system finished.