SPAIN:SPANISH PRIME minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was judged the overwhelming winner in Monday night's heated televised political debate. Mr Zapatero and his conservative rival, Mariano Rajoy, came face-to-face for the second time to fight out their differences on camera in a bid to attract voters in next Sunday's general election.
The two candidates exchanged insults and angry allegations, called each other liars and clashed over the economy, education and immigration. The mood became even more heated when they touched on the subject of Eta terrorism, the 2004 Madrid train bombing, when 192 people died, and, particularly, the invasion of Iraq.
Former prime minister José María Aznar aligned Spain with the US and Britain to send Spanish troops into Iraq. In his campaign four years ago, Mr Zapatero promised to withdraw Spanish troops if elected, and within days of being sworn in he kept his pledge - to the fury of the opposition, but supported by the electorate.
This week Mr Zapatero made promises, some of them rash, but many of them related to social issues, education, the environment and women's rights.
Mr Rajoy, the opposition Popular Party (PP) leader, devoted much of his rhetoric to criticising the performance of the socialist government over the past four years, but gave few pledges or hints of his own plans.
According to media opinion polls, the first debate a week ago ended in a technical draw. Mr Zapatero came across as stiff and nervous, while his rival appeared even more uncomfortable, stumbling over words, repeatedly buttoning and unbuttoning his jacket and sweating under the studio lights. They made their well-rehearsed points, apparently ignoring those of their rival, and waved illustrated charts at the cameras to stress their arguments.
Televised debates between party leaders are not part of the Spanish electoral tradition. Fifteen years have elapsed since socialist Felipe González and Mr Aznar, the then PP leader, confronted each other on television screens.
On that occasion, Mr Aznar was judged to have won round one, while Mr González scored a resounding victory in the second and decisive round a week later.
Possibly because of the novelty of televised debates, there are few pre-established guidelines.
This week's programme was more of a media show than a serious political confrontation. It descended to the level of farce when two professional basketball timekeepers - with their electronic digital clocks - were recruited to guarantee that no one exceeded their allotted time.
To avoid any accusation of bias, the debates were organised by the independent Academy of the Science and Art of Television, which offered the signal to all television and radio companies. Some accepted, others turned it down.
The two debates were staged in specially constructed sets in the Madrid exhibition complex, and an estimated 12 million viewers turned in to each confrontation.
Some PP campaign meetings have verged on the xenophobic in their attacks against foreign immigrants.
One official let slip recently that his party was using immigration as an electoral weapon. He suggested that stressing "the dangers of immigration" would encourage some voters to stay away from the polls on Sunday.
They accepted that the PP could not attract votes from the left, but could create a mood of distrust, with the socialist floating voter abstaining.
Mr Rajoy used the weapon to attack Mr Zapatero on Monday. "Some Spaniards feel they are losing out by uncontrolled immigration when they apply for a place in a school or a scholarship for their children, want a job or buy an apartment," he said.
Latest polls showed Mr Zapatero increasing his lead over Mr Rajoy. Three weeks ago, the two parties were running virtually neck-and-neck; last weekend's polls gave the socialists a 4 per cent lead over the PP.