All candidates participate in first official presidential debate

The five presidential contenders. Photo: El Salvador Noticias.net

by CISPES

All five of El Salvador’s presidential candidates took stage on Sunday, January 12, for the country’s first-ever official presidential debate, sponsored by the association of Salvadoran broadcast media (ASDER) and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). A Mexican journalist moderated the debate in efforts to respect TSE objectives and bring more transparency into the elections and equality to all candidates. The debate, which was formatted to be more of a panel, consisted of four rounds of questions on topics ranging from education, health, security and the economy. While all five candidates were given two minutes to respond in each round, the focus was on the three leading candidates and their approach to each issue.