Agenda problems or was he "exhausted"? Rufián and Pimec clash over the absence of the ERC candidate from the debate

BarcelonaPimec had organized for this Monday morning its traditional electoral debate ahead of the November 29th elections. The association for small and medium-sized enterprises had announced that all the number one candidates for Barcelona would participate, except for the one from Comuns-Front Ampli, who sent their number two, Ernest Urtasun, instead of Ada Colau. The surprise came when an empty chair was spotted, that of the ERC candidate, Gabriel Rufián, who was absent from the debate at the last minute. For what reason? Rufián and Pimec have released contradictory versions throughout this morning.

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, explained just as the debate began that Rufián would not be there because he was "exhausted after yesterday's debate", in reference to the first electoral debate on RTVE this Sunday, which led him, he said, not to attend the "first and only debate of the electoral cycle in the economic and business sphere". Rufián, however, denied that this was the case and, in a tweet, asserted that it was for "scheduling reasons" that he could not attend the debate.

ERC sources explain that for days they had been alleging "agenda reasons" for why Rufián would be present at the debate. However, the party confirmed his attendance and conveyed this to journalists last week. The employers' association, in this regard, tweeted explaining that Rufián confirmed he would attend the debate "on October 26 at 7:27 PM". Tonight, according to ERC, they informed Pimec that finally Rufián would not be able to be there due to an "indisposition". The employers' association explained, on the other hand, that the "notice" that the ERC candidate would not be there reached them this morning at 7:07 AM because he was "indisposed" and "exhausted", they wrote in a tweet.

Rufián has replied to the tweet denying what Pimec said, but also ERC: "I am perfectly fine. And I will only say that someone here is lying".

The Republicans offered an alternative candidate, Jordi Albert, so that ERC could be present at the debate, but Pimec rejected it. Rufián reproached the organization for having accepted Ernest Urtasun despite him being number two for the Comuns in Barcelona –the number one is Ada Colau–. Sources familiar with how the debate works explained to the ARA that Pimec made it clear from the first moment that it would not accept changes to the people who had been confirmed. From the Comuns, Urtasun was always the reference person, even though the employers' association had demanded that it be the heads of the lists who debated.