First presidential debate in Mexico 2024: topic, moderator, what time and how to watch

Candidates for the presidency of the Mexico will hold their first debate this Sunday amid the diplomatic crisis with Ecuador and the growing violence that claimed the lives of several candidates for regional office. The spotlight will point to the official candidate Claudia Sheinbaumwith an advantage greater than 20 points, now Xochitl Gálvez, a center-right opponent who will have to take risks trying to bring the score a little closer. In third place is Jorge Álvarez Máynez, a former deputy who was appointed standard-bearer of the Citizen Movement (center-left) at the last minute and who will seek to make himself known.

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“Debates are the only opportunity to Gálvez to try Sheinbaum making a mistake, making a face, a wrong word,” Roy Campos, from the researcher, told AFP. See Mitofsky.

WATCH: How Mexico faces one of the most violent election campaigns in its history

There are three meetings agreed before the general elections on June 2 and they will be divided into themes. In the first, the dominant themes will be combat corruption, health and education.

The personality of Gálvezand his colloquial speech, could work in his favor, admits Campos, who still highlights the good “training” that Sheinbaumof scientific training, he seems to have and this has helped to soften his sober style.

The thorny issue of insecurity will be addressed at the third meetingwhich the expert considers the most attractive because it will allow candidates to interact, while in the first two they will answer the moderators’ questions.

Along with violence linked to crime and the more than 450,000 murders recorded by the government since December 2006, in Mexico Attacks against politicians are multiplying, with 23 candidates murdered in this electoral process, according to consultancy Integralia.

Homicides in Mexico. (AFP).

The ruling Morena party is the one that suffered the most with the loss of candidates, including Gisela Gaytánwho aspired to be mayor of Celaya (center), but she was shot dead on Monday as she finished her first rally and was surrounded by supporters.

Break with Ecuador

The unprecedented police intervention in Mexican embassy in Quito arrest the former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas led the opposition to close ranks with the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The left-wing president declared the break in relations due to what he described as “flagrant violation of international law”.

Gálvez was the first to join the sentence. “The diplomatic headquarters of any foreign nation are inviolable,” he wrote in X.

He was followed by Álvarez Máynez, who denounced an “attack on Mexican sovereignty”, while Sheinbaum referred to an “affront to diplomacy and international law”.

Climbing with Ecuador It was framed in the comments of the Mexican president, who on Wednesday drew a parallel between the violence that marked the 2023 Ecuadorian presidential campaign, with the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and the violence in the campaign in Mexico.

López Obrador suggested that Villavicencio’s crime created a “rarefied environment of violence” which, added to the “manipulation” of some media outlets, caused the left-wing candidate to fall in the polls. Luisa González and the recovery of Daniel Noboa, who was the winner.

This led Quito to declare the Mexican ambassador persona non grata on Thursday and on Friday Mexico agreed to give Glas asylum who has taken refuge in the Mexican headquarters since December and who alleges political motives following the corruption accusations against him.

Foreign policy was also left for the third debate, unless the candidates take the time to refer to this diplomatic crisis.

In any case, analyst Campos considers it difficult for these exchanges to reverse the advantage of Sheinbaum. “It’s very difficult for a citizen to say ‘oh, so I’m going to change my vote,’” he said.

According to research carried out by the company Oraculus, Sheinbaum has 59% of voting intentions, Gálvez with 35% and Álvarez Máynez with 6%.

Issue

The National Electoral Institute (INE) reported that the first presidential debate will take place at its headquarters, in the south of Mexico City. The central theme will be “The society we want” which covers six themes:

Moderators

Journalists Denise Maerker and Manuel López San Martín.

Debate time and how to watch

The debate will begin at 8pm central time in Mexico (7pm in Peru).

It will be broadcast via INE’s official YouTube channel, as well as on its various social networks.

Source: Elcomercio