Global Courant
In an electoral process with almost thirty participating parties, it is obviously impossible for everyone to have the same preferences; In the same way, knowing the public about so many conjunctural situations, antecedents and links, it is unthinkable that they do not have a positive or negative impact on the profiles in contention. They all aspire to the favor of the electorate, request the vote in various ways —from the most legitimate to the most tricky— and not all of them give the same result.
Although the foregoing is evident, lies arise, with or without a name, dedicated to disqualifying what they consider adverse. This is how attacks against the Free Survey arise, a technical exercise of social investigation for journalistic purposes. In fact, the most valuable thing achieved with this tool is a statistical overview of the concerns, disappointments, and expectations of Guatemalans: that is, valuable information that politicians and parties should use to draw up better proposals for the citizenry.
However, many of these figures and their respective relatives only focus on their ambition and not on the needs of the people. Reality exasperates them when the country doesn’t necessarily revolve around them. This is when they resort to spreading falsehoods, conspiracy theories and attacks on the impartial messenger.
Among the misleading narratives that seek to discredit the Free Survey, there are totally opposite versions, which is another evidence of their spite. In Prensa Libre and Guatevisión we owe ourselves to Guatemala and the Guatemalans, as stated in the first editorial of August 21, 1951.
We remain faithful to that mission because it is our reason for existing; therefore, our greatest treasure is the confidence of the audiences. For this reason, we trust in the professional and ethical work carried out by the company ProDatos, which carries out each citizen opinion study with strict standards. It always aspires to achieve the best representativeness of the country’s regions, socioeconomic strata and population distribution, in accordance with the projections of the Population Census and the composition of the Electoral Register.
You may wonder that, if it is the cause of so many attacks, why continue publishing the Free Survey, and the answer is simple: because we are here to serve the citizenry, because as a journalistic company we need to have the panorama of the moment the Nation is experiencing. Aware of our responsibility, we share the results with the population, with the clear observation of the statistical error margin and with a validity limited to the temporality of the days of interviews in all regions of the country.
The Free Survey measures a present intention and not a future behavior, since the sovereign decision of nine million citizens will be subject to multiple variables. The Free Survey is carried out during electoral periods, but also in exceptional moments such as the pandemic, to learn about fears, habits and perceptions. We reject unfounded accusations and reiterate our unalterable will to contribute to the construction of Guatemalan democracy through the provision of information for decision-making. The survey does not suggest, condition or oblige, not even to those surveyed. Each Guatemalan will decide next Sunday, in total secrecy, before the ballot box and the ballots based on his convictions, objectives and wishes.
