'No proposals for Catalonia' after Spanish PM candidates debate, Catalan government says

The Catalan government believes that the debate between Spain's two Prime Minisertial candidates on Monday night showed the "worst side of politics," as there were "no proposals for Catalonia" made.

Spain's current PM, Pedro Sánchez of the Socialists, and the conservative People's Party candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo, faced off in the only televised debate between the main two candidates to become the next leader of the country. 

Neither candidate made any new suggestions to solve the political conflict between Catalonia and Spain or to reduce the investment deficit, the Catalan government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, said on Tuesday during a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting.

"They only talk about Catalonia to attack it," she added.

Before the Spanish election takes place on July 23, there will be another debate on Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, with PM Pedró Sánchez taking on far-right Vox's candidate Santiago Abascal and left-wing Sumar's Yolanda Díaz. Feijóo rejected taking part in the program scheduled for July 19.

Spain to vote by mail

As Spain prepares to hold its early election on July 23, many people are concerned about how will they vote, as the date may coincide with their summer vacation plans.

With less than one month to go, it's expected that mail-in votes will increase and break records of past elections. In fact, Google searches for "vote by mail" and "how to vote by mail" skyrocketed following Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez's announcement of the snap election on May 29. 

The CCOO trade union told Catalan News that 1.7 million people have requested to vote by mail, and the final number is expected to be around 2 million. Some 120,000 of the requests have been made in Catalonia, 90,000 of which are in Barcelona alone.

Learn more about the Spanish snap election called for July 23 by listening to the Filling the Sink podcast.