The composition and the order of the stage are ready for the confrontation of September – deadline

ABC News and Univision will give the 10 Democratic candidates who qualified for the next debate a little more time to answer questions than at the last meeting. They will be able to make opening statements but not closing remarks.

The network also confirmed Thursday that no more than 10 candidates had managed to qualify, which means that there will be only one debate on September 12th. It will be broadcast from 8 pm to 11 pm ET on ABC and Univision from Health & PE of Texas Southern University. Center in Houston.

ABC News also announced the position of the candidates on the stage. The order, from left to right, will be: Amy Klobuchar, Corey Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro. Candidates at the head of the polls – Biden and Warren – were placed at the center, the other candidates standing out from this point according to their rankings.

The ABC News presenter, George Stephanopoulos, World news tonight anchor David Muir, correspondent Linsey Davis and anchor of Univision Jorge Ramos will be moderators.

Candidates will have one minute and 15 seconds to answer direct questions and 45 seconds for other answers and rebuttals, ABC News said. It's a little longer than CNN has allocated to cover the debate on July 30 and 31, when candidates had a minute to answer and 30 seconds for rebuttals. Some critics complained that the candidates did not have enough time or had to finish abruptly at the end of the allotted time.

At the same time, some of the candidates who failed to get to the field had to take into account the cost of their failed campaign. Kirsten Gillibrand dropped out of the race on Wednesday when it became clear that she would not participate in the debate until the qualifying deadline set at the end of the day. Candidates had to reach 2% in at least four national ballots or in the first states, and have at least 130,000 unique donors – criteria more stringent than for the first two debates.

"Although I am disappointed not to participate in the Houston debate this month, I am excited by all the support you have shown us," billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer wrote to his followers on Twitter. According to several experts, it would be enough to reach 2% in an additional survey to be eligible.

Other candidates criticized the process. Tulsi Gabbard appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News on Wednesday to say "the whole process lacked transparency". She complained that the National Democratic Committee has recognized that certain surveys are valid for determining who qualifies.

Michael Bennet's campaign, which also did not participate in the debate, sent a letter to DNC President Tom Perez asking how his criteria for debate had been defined.

"To date, the DNC has not provided information on how the unprecedented qualification criteria for the debates had been defined, nor on the criteria that will be applied to the next eight debates", wrote Chris Hughes, Bennet's adviser. He also asked why some polls were valid for qualifying purposes and others not.

DNC's director of communications, Xochitl Hinojosa, told the New York Times On Wednesday, the DNC asks candidates to reach 2% in four polling stations. "It's not high at all. There were 21 eligible polls. This is 21 opportunities to reach 2% in four polling stations. This is not difficult.