La construcción de la imagen del líder político en el discurso de investidura: los casos de Mariano Rajoy y Pablo Iglesias

The goal of this paper is to analyze Mariano Rajoy’s and Pablo Iglesias’ speeches during the Investiture Debate of Pedro Sánchez as Prime Minister of the Spanish Government on March 2nd, 2016. Since it was impossible to reach a political agreement, both of them chose to give a campaign speech where the main goal was to consolidate the own image and to destroy political opponents’. In this paper, the discourse strategies used by both of them are deeply studied. Rajoy frames his speech in order to present Sánchez’s candidacy as a masquerade and himself as the prudent and experienced leader that Spain needs. On the other hand, Iglesias uses a mythical element deep rooted in his audience: the hero, righteous and excessive at the same time, which turns up in difficult situations to restore justice.