Argentines are preparing to witness one of the central moments of the electoral campaign, when The five presidential candidates attend the two debates required by law, where they must synthesize their proposals and try to give an image of reliable leadership. and the ability to discuss ideas with his rivals, one of the moments that will undoubtedly be one of the most viewed and discussed in the media and social networks.
This year they introduced two variants with respect to the editions of the debate in 2015 and 2019 that, according to everyone estimates, will provide greater dynamism to the emissions.
The first is that each candidate will have five opportunities for the right to reply. that you can use in any way you want and The second is that in addition to the agreed topics, citizens will be able to vote from a list to add another topic.
Perhaps more important will be the five “rights to reply” that each participant will have available to use at any time.
By law, if an applicant refuses to participate, they lose their advertising spaces on television and radio. And the physical place that he should have occupied is evidently empty.
“The memory of the previous debates is just a couple of sentences, one from Mauricio Macri to Daniel Scioli and one from Alberto Fernández to Macri, but there was no real exchange. With the right of reply they will not be able to be just scripted responses, or occasional phrases. They are going to have to speak without a network,” explained a party representative.
Another novelty of the 2023 debate was that the public was able to vote on the topics that the candidates should address. The online vote showed that “human rights and democratic coexistence” and “Housing, human development and environment” are two mandatory axes.
Last Wednesday they defined the eight journalists who will moderate the debates that will be held at the University of Santiago del Estero (October 1) and at the University of Buenos Aires (October 8).
Rodolfo Barili (Telefe), Evangelina Ramallo (Association of Argentine Teleradio Broadcasters), Esteban Mirol (El Nueve) and Lucila Trujillo (TV Pública) will be the four communicators who will lead the first of the debates.
While Mariana Verón (El Nueve), Marcelo Bonelli (TN and El Trece), Sergio Roulier (ElTresTV) and Soledad Larghi (América) will be the ones who moderate the second and last debate.
The president of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Alberto Dalla Via, said these days that there is “expectation” on the part of Argentine society to listen to the candidates in the debate and stated that, just like on May 25, 1810 , “the people want to know what it is about.”
The magistrate pointed out that the meetings between the delegates of the forces were “cordial” and that the “essential” points of the debate were agreed upon, from the topics to the way in which the exchanges will be carried out.
As drawn, in Santiago del Estero the lecterns will be occupied, from left to right, in the following order: Myriam Bregman, Sergio Massa, Patricia Bullrich, Juan Schiaretti, and Javier Milei, while in Buenos Aires, also from left to right, the order will be: Schiaretti, Bullrich, Milei, Bregman and Massa.
As established by the CNE, the debates between the five presidential candidates will take place on Sundays, October 1 at the National University of Santiago del Estero (UNSE) and October 8 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). . If there is a ballot, a third debate will be held on November 12, also at the UBA Law headquarters.
“This is an institutional debate of a mandatory nature established by law and represents a public good because it emerged from civil society. That is why we understand that the debate is not about the candidates, but rather about the citizens,” said the president of the CNE during the presentation.
Dalla Via highlighted the work that the Debate 2023 Advisory Council has been carrying out since the beginning of the year, made up of representatives of academic and civil society organizations “committed to promoting democratic values.” Among the members are former judges León Carlos Arslanian and Ricardo Gil Lavedra; the owner of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto, and the specialists Belén Amadeo, Atilio Borón, Marcelo Cavarozzi, Daniel Dessein, Delia Ferreira Rubio, Adriana Guerrero, Alejandro Tullio, Leandro Vergara, Manuel Calderón, Gala Díaz Langou, Héctor Paz and Silvana Vives.
The members of the Council advised and proposed the topics “to provide greater dynamics to the debate” as “it is directed at citizens and not at politicians.” The campaign teams of each candidate also intervened to generate agreements on different points.
According to the regulations, analyzed by Pulsar.UBA – a UBA observatory specialized in the study of public opinion – At the beginning, each candidate will have one minute free for their presentation and then up to 2 minutes of presentation per thematic axis. In addition, each candidate will have up to 5 opportunities to ask “answer” in 45 seconds and there will be cross-questions: one for each candidate. The order of the crossings was decided by drawing lots.
One of the new things this year is the proposal to include citizen participation through the formulation of questions that can be sent in advance.
There will be 6 axes of debate. Economy and education They will take place on October 1 in Santiago del Estero. Safety, work and production They will be treated on October 8 in the City of Buenos Aires. On September 18, the 2 thematic axes chosen by citizens were announced. For the first debate, It will be human rights and democratic coexistence and for the second, human development, housing and environmental protection.
The law that established the mandatory debates provides that all presidential candidates who exceeded 1.5% of the votes in the PASO must participate, and if a candidate refuses to participate, they receive a sanction that consists of not granting him advertising space for his electoral campaign on television and radio. Besides, The physical place that the candidate who refuses to participate should occupy must be left empty, to demonstrate his absence.
People asked to include human rights, democracy, housing and the environment
Students visit the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory on the day it was declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. The museum was once the Argentine Navy School of Mechanics that was used as an illegal detention and torture center during the Argentina’s last military dictatorship. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The majority of the citizens’ vote decided that the thematic axis “Human rights and democratic coexistence” be one of those that the presidential candidates address in the first debate between them, which will take place on October 1 in the city of Santiago del Estero.
Sources from the National Electoral Chamber (CNE) told Télam that 57.94% of those who voted through a form available on the debate.electoral.gob.ar website, leaned towards the “Human rights and democratic coexistence” axis. ”. This was followed by “Human development, housing and environmental protection”, with 18.60%, which will be part of the second debate, scheduled for October 8 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Further back in the choice of citizen issues to be considered by the presidential candidates, but that will not be part of the debates, were “Health” (6.82%); “Justice, institutions and transparency” (6.62%); “Argentina’s relations with the world” (5.53%); “Federalism and national development” (3.35%); and “Defense” (1.14%).