Candidates focus more on campaigning than on proposals | Candidatos se enfocan más en campañas que en propuestas

By El Diario:

Population demands debates

  • Opposition political leaders are prioritizing political campaigning and avoiding discussion of the changes the country needs in order to stabilize. They also do not address the measures they would implement once in power.
Opposition candidates Manfred Reyes Villa, Jorge Quiroga and Samuel Doria Medina.

Questioning the fact that none of the current presidential candidates are considering the urgent economic measures that must be taken if they assume government, national assemblyman for La Paz, Miguel Roca, pointed out that opposition political leaders are focused on their campaigns, while debate and the presentation of programs are being left aside.

He also lamented that in the current electoral process, political campaigning is being prioritized and discussion of the changes the country needs to stabilize, as well as the measures each candidate would implement once in power, is being avoided.

“I don’t hear much from the candidates about the urgent reforms that need to be made to the Constitution. We have to change the hydrocarbons, mining, and natural resources regime,” he said.

Regarding the opposition leaders who are better positioned in voter preferences, Roca stated that Manfred Reyes Villa, Jorge Quiroga, and Samuel Doria Medina are focused solely on campaigning—“setting up stages, waving flags, or inflating balloons.” However, debates where proposals could be compared have been left aside.

In that vein, the opposition assemblyman said that several important issues needed to get the country out of the current crisis and improve the economic situation are being neglected due to the intense focus candidates are placing on political campaigning.

“There are several topics that need to be debated, and I believe the population misses that. There is no debate among the main candidates, the ones who call themselves opposition—I call on them to debate,” he added.

In Roca’s opinion, public debates are the only spaces where each candidate can present their proposals and compare them with those of their political rivals, all with the goal of providing the public with enough information before choosing which project to support.

“Present your proposals to the country more clearly. Don’t just talk about ‘a hundred days…’ or more loans. We need real and well-argued proposals, not advertising spots that are always easy to say and make look nice,” he said.

Roca concluded that it will ultimately be the Bolivian people who must choose from the options presented to them the one best suited to change the course of the country, so it is essential to know who is proposing the change in direction that the country needs and the citizens are expecting.

Leave a comment