The technical and format problems in the last electoral debate between the candidates and the presidential candidate have been the subject of harsh public scrutiny: unnecessary camera shots, lighting issues, failure of the air conditioning and the stopwatch. Its high cost justifies the questions: MVS NET and Full Circle Media are going to receive between 13 and 23 million pesos for each of the three debates.
The debate also exposed the tensions within the INE, because as they say that failure is an orphan, those who were in charge of making sure everything went well distanced themselves from the problems. Specifically, the counselor Carla Humphrey, president of the Temporary Debates Commission of the INElaunched, at the beginning of the week, the “operation distraction” to try to distance itself from the obvious production and technical errors and in the process blame the president of the INE, Guadalupe Taddei.
Humphrey entered a dizzying roadshow media to blame others for a process, the supervision of which falls under his responsibility and that of the other members of said Commission, Dania Ravel, Claudia Zavala, Martín Faz and Jorge Montaño.
It is worth saying that in terms of format, highly criticized by the candidates, those who approved it were their own representatives, those who negotiated it on behalf of the political parties, creating a true straitjacket for the candidates seeking the Presidency. The format was not a decision of the INE.
The Social Communication area, headed by Iván de Jesús Flores, is another important actor in the responsibility of the debate, as it serves as a kind of technical secretary of the commission headed by Humphrey.
Regarding Xóchitl Gálvez’s strange complaint that the presence of Taddei, Rita Bell López, Norma Irene de la Cruz and Jorge Montaño on the set “distracted her” by standing in front of her, the fact is that the advisors could and will be present in the forum of the event that they, as electoral referee, are organizing.
With evident political intention, there were those who interpreted that the president of the INE personally assumed the errors in the debate, when what she said verbatim was: “I want to give you peace of mind, the institute does accept criticism in a healthy, constructive way and we will do the same for the next debate.” No more no less.
For the next debate, on April 28 at the Churubusco Studios, the producers will be the same, because it is impossible to change providers at this point, with contracts already signed, and the format will be the one already agreed upon by the parties. What is needed is a redoubled supervision of the execution of the event and less grid between directors who do not like each other.
ajimenez@oem.com.mx