2023-06-14 18:40:00
Candidates and former presidential candidates attack Edmond Mulletwhich reaffirms the idea that, in effect, it is at the head of the electoral preferences.
It is an electoral process with few polls; the few that exist have been attacked by one or the other, as they appear in them. A few days after the publication of the survey that lift ProDatapublished by the medium Free Pressthe perceptions of triumph -or of scoring preferences- play the role of those, both for voters and for financiers.
Edmond Mulet came in third in the 2019 general election, behind Sandra Torres and of Alejandro Giammattei; due to a constitutional prohibition, the second -and current president- cannot run again, so Torres and Mulet were left in line for the present elections. Zury Ríos joins them who leads some measurements, like the other two. Experts in the matter maintain that the difference between them makes it very difficult to determine who of the three leads the preferences at a certain time. It will be until we see the results of June 25 that we will know for sure.
The attacks on Mulet have come from Sandra Torres and Zury Ríos – understandable, due to the little difference between the percentages – but they have also come from distant candidates to the tipas Bernardo Arevalo, Manuel Villacorta, Amilcar Rivera y Julius Talamonti; Manuel Condeand possible fourth placealso gets on that attack train.
Added to them Carlos Pinedathe former candidate for Citizen Prosperity, who after the nomination assemblies were declared invalid by virtue of a questionable protection, launches to “blame” him for not being able to participate.
The attacks or the so-called “black campaign” They are not only given against Mulet, but it is more than evident that he is the target of most of the attacks. Social networks make it possible for such attacks to be propagated from anonymous accounts and viralized by structures created for this purpose: the so-called netcenters.
To all this must be added the confusing and questionable attempted criminal prosecution by the FECES against the candidate Mulet, an action that makes it clear in the mind that ultimately, Mulet does not enjoy the favor of the Giammattei governmentgiven the perception that it controls the research entity.
Due to the obvious targeting of attacks against Mulet, the effect seems to be the opposite as desired by the authors. It is important to note that working with perceptions and not with numbers with statistical support due to the already mentioned lack of surveys credible or at least accepted as credible by broad sectors. Unfortunately, several candidates and/or parties have instrumentalized the opinion poll toolturning it into one more element of their campaigns. The citizenthe voter, without technical knowledge and bombarded by supposed polls with dissimilar results -some openly implausible- opt out of any surveyincluding those carried out by recognized companies and with solid scientific methodology.
Another problem in being able to take the pulse of electoral preferences has been the little participation in debates -not forums- from the presidential candidates. In those that there have been, there have been some, but not all the pointers and not in all the themes. the lunge was the cancellation of the oldest presidential debate in Guatemala, the one organized by the Guatemalan Managers Association. Due to the uncertainty, until the last moment, of the participation of some and other candidates, it was announced that it would not take place.
The forums allow the candidates to take a position on problems and issues, but the debates -the real debates- make the candidates contrast and defend their positions against their opponents. This allows voters to know not only government plans, but also the level of technical knowledge and even the character of the candidates who defend -or not- their ideological positions.
From that account, in Guatemalain the elections of 2023, can’t speak properly -sure- voting intentionsino only perception of triumph. Perhaps also the level of knowledge, acceptance and rejection, but not the intention to vote. The politicians themselves are to blame for this..
A Cloudythe other presidential candidates, They attribute to him being the cause of all their ills; They accuse him of being the secret ally of the current government. Needless to say, they have not provided any evidence to support such accusations.
We are facing elections without reliable data on electoral preferences, but on perceptions and, for this reason, the attacks focused on Mulet increase the perception that he is at the forefront of preferences. In politics, no one wastes time attacking whoever is behind.
#Mulet