María Casado’s rival denounced that the process offered no guarantees, while the Electoral Council called the criticism “regrettable”
The Television Academy has imploded from the inside out. What seemed like a routine process to elect the new presidency has led to a cross-fertilization of accusations between rival candidate Mayte Pascual and the institution itself, which has been headed by former RTVE journalist María Casado since 2018, who took over of the veteran Manuel Campo Vidal in office.
The origin of the dispute? The “accumulation of numerous irregularities in the electoral process” that, according to Casado’s opponent, are clouding the renewal of the current leadership. The election has been left in the air, waiting for the waters to run their course again.
Pascual, an experienced professional in the information services of the public company, decided to withdraw her candidacy for the Television Academy elections after noting, in her own words, a “process flawed from the origin” and lacking guarantees necessary for the company. a “clean election campaign”.
In this context, the candidacy accused the institution of taking actions that question the neutrality of the process and also of ignoring the claims and complaints due to the doubts raised by the election. According to María Casado’s rival, these resolutions have been “insufficiently or not followed” and, in her opinion, have not been corrected.
Of the alleged irregularities described by the complainant, the alternative list to the ‘official’ list focuses on the pre-election census and denounces the postal voting process, for which, Pascual points out, no photocopy of the DNI along with the votes is required, in the same envelope, to be regarded as valid, as included in its own electoral regulations.
It also regrets that the vote for the presidency of the institution took place a few days after the Iris 2022 Awards gala, where the awards are presented to professionals in the sector after deliberation by the television academics themselves. According to Pascual’s candidacy, the Electoral Council was requested to change the date of these awards in order not to interfere with the institution’s elections, something the arbitral body denied.
Finally, María Casado received the Iris award for best presenter of the year for the interview format ‘Las tres puertas’, which she presented last season on TVE’s La 1, something that the critical sector of the institution did not like either. In other words, the academics crowned their president, in a category of nominees that also included Alfonso Arús, Andreu Buenafuente, Mercedes Milá, Roberto Leal and Susanna Griso.
For its part, the Electoral Council responded to Pascual’s accusations in a harsh statement defending their impartiality in the electoral process. They explain that before the elections this body was chosen by lottery for a notary “from among all the academics who did not participate in the elections”, so “it cannot be inferred from that election” that they acted guided by “no partisan interest”.
At another point, the body dismisses as “unfortunate” that “colleagues of the Academy” criticize “without reasons, arguments or facts to support it” and question the election. “The decisions of the Electoral Council in response to the writings of the candidacy of Mayte Pascual have always been taken by unanimous vote of the five colleagues, chosen at random and by lot with the presence of the two candidacies, and without any special or different votes in each of our responses,” the statement recalled.
For example, the Elections Office denounces the critical candidacy and replies that it will not accept Pascual’s “serious, unnecessary, uncertain and free qualifications”. Faced with this situation, the body called for an extraordinary general assembly to resolve the situation and make “the most appropriate decisions for the empowerment, development and credibility of the Academy”.
In this way, the television institution faces 2023 with an uncertain future, awaiting the renewal of its presidency. In addition, next year the general elections will be held with the candidates to occupy the Palacio de la Moncloa.
In the last election appointment, the Television Academy was responsible for organizing an election debate between politicians, broadcast in most of the country’s media. It was founded in 1997 and has more than 1,000 academics from the Spanish audiovisual sector.
Source: La Verdad
I am David Jackson, a highly experienced professional in the news industry. I have been working as an author at Today Times Live for over 10 years, and specialize in covering the entertainment section. My expertise lies in writing engaging stories that capture readers’ attention and deliver timely information about the latest developments.
