Let's Debate

Picture two political rivals on the same stage, live and unscripted, in front of millions. One is way ahead in the polls and has everything to lose by showing up. So why do they come? In the first episode of Let's Debate!, host Mario López-Alguero sits down with Belén Amadeo, who helped bring presidential debates to Argentina, and Dr. Eleanor Henry, who built Jamaica's debate tradition from nothing. Together they share how debates are born, why they nearly fall apart, and why they still matter in a world where it's harder than ever to trust what we see and hear.

Where It All Began

Argentina's first presidential debate in 2015 came from citizens, not politicians. When it aired, it drew an audience rivaling a World Cup final, and Congress made debates mandatory the very next year. In Jamaica, Dr. Henry helped create the Jamaica Debates Commission in 2007, a model she has since shared across the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa.

Why Show Up at All?

A debate is the only moment every candidate stands side by side, on equal footing. For a front-runner, that's exactly the risk. The answer? Make staying home cost more than showing up. In Argentina, the law does the work. In Jamaica, voters do: skip the debate, and the public assumes you have something to hide.

Trust Comes First

Building a debate from scratch starts with debate organizers everyone believes are fair. In Argentina, every decision happens with all parties in the room, and every agreement is signed in writing. And there's no one-size-fits-all format. Even a debate's length depends on culture and must be agreed by the candidates..

Should a Debate Be a Fight?

From empty podiums to last-minute dropouts, our guests share what happens when things go wrong. But civil doesn't have to mean dull. A respectful, unscripted debate still shows voters who a candidate really is and how they react when their ideas are challenged.  And in an age of misinformation and AI-generated content, that may matter more than ever.

Key Takeaways

About the Guests

Mario López-Alguero is the host of Let's Debate! and has organized presidential debates in Guatemala. He works with Debates International, which supports democratic debates around the world.

Belén Amadeo is a political scientist at the Universidad de Buenos Aires who studies political communication, agenda setting, and the media. She was part of the civil society coalition that brought Argentina its first presidential debates in 2015, which led to the law making them mandatory the following year.

Dr. Eleanor Henry has been part of the Jamaica Debates Commission, a partnership of the Media Association Jamaica and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, since its first debate in 2007. A lecturer and project manager, she has helped launch debate commissions across the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa, often in places that had never held a debate before.

Timestamps

In the lead-up to many elections around the world, an important and fragile thing happens: the people asking to lead a government agree to stand on stage and debate each other live, in front of millions of viewers. To viewers, it can look seamless, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Let's Debate! is about everything it takes to create these vital moments of accountability for democratic leaders worldwide.

Hosted by members of Debates International, the show is a series of conversations with the people who build candidate debates from the ground up, often in countries where no debate has taken place before. Each episode is a case study: how producers create formats to accommodate up to 20+ candidates, how moderators try to hold candidates to the truth in real time, how organizers persuade candidates that the public has the right to hear a candid exchange of views. Taken together, they add up to something larger – an argument, episode by episode, for why this particular ritual still matters.

That argument feels more urgent by the year. Misinformation now travels faster than fact-checking can keep up with, and trust in nearly every institution that once mediated public life is eroding. Against that backdrop, the live, unscripted debate is one of the few remaining moments where voters hear candidates answer for themselves, without a filter. Let's Debate! is for anyone who wants to understand what it takes to protect that – not just debate professionals, but voters, journalists, civic organizers, students, and anyone trying to think seriously about what a healthy democracy still requires.

To go deeper, visit Debates International. New episodes monthly.