Gabriel Rufián Says Party Orders Caused Him to Miss Pimec Debate

Gabriel Rufián missed the business association candidate debate because his party’s campaign committee ordered him to stay away.

The Esquerra Republicana candidate said during a Ser Catalunya interview that he wanted to attend the event organized by Pimec, but party leadership told him no. He added that the resulting absence was a terrible mistake.

Pimec left Rufián’s chair empty at the debate and stated that Esquerra had cancelled at the last minute because the candidate was exhausted. Rufián rejected that explanation immediately, pointing instead to agenda conflicts before clarifying the direct orders from his campaign team.

He said the party commanded him to skip the event simply because there were too many debates scheduled, despite having confirmed attendance to the media the previous week. After Pimec asserted that Esquerra had pulled out at the final hour because the candidate was “exhaust”, the head of the list had already denied that this was the case and alleged “agenda reasons”.

The candidate learned about the controversy while running through Barcelona after receiving multiple messages asking if he was well and wishing him a quick recovery from supposed exhaustion.

He stated that he felt perfectly fine and suggested that someone was lying about the circumstances surrounding the cancellation. He stated Jo estic molt bé, perfectament, and repeated up to twice that he does not know d’on surt everything and that algú menteix.

Rufián expressed maximum respect for Pimec and its president, Antoni Cañete, while reiterating that it was a massive blunder by his party not to send any representative. The republicans stated they offered Jordi Albert as a substitute candidate, but the business association rejected the replacement.

Pimec accepted Ernest Urtasun from Front Ampli despite him being the number two candidate behind Ada Colau, though sources familiar with the debate operations noted that Pimec maintained a strict policy against confirmed participants being swapped out.

Rufián offered apologies to everyone involved and joked about his reputation as a free agent within politics. He noted that he was now paying the price for being strictly disciplined by his party. Rufián ended up asking for disculpes a tothom and ironized that, although he has the fame of a vers lliure, he now pays the consequences of being molt disciplinat with his party.