The Ahok-Djarot camp is cautiously optimistic. Agus and Sylvi are putting in the hard yards in anticipation of tough competition. Meanwhile, team Anies-Sandiaga is confident its rhetoric will win the hearts of Jakartans.

All three pairs in the Jakarta gubernatorial election are bracing for the second official debate slated for this evening at Bidakara hotel in South Jakarta.

Millions of eyes across the nation will witness Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja PurnamaDjarot Saiful Hidayat, and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno pit their ideas against each other’s on some of the city’s most enduring problems: bureaucratic reform, public services and urban planning.

With pollsters having released studies on the first debate’s effect on voters, observers say a much more enjoyable debate is to be expected as all the candidates had learned lessons from their first performance.

(Read also: Ahok gets post-debate bump in polls)

The three candidate pairs are likely to deliver more powerful performances in their bid to woo Jakartans, especially swing and undecided voters.

Political analyst Hendri Satrio suggested that the candidates relate the three main topics to daily experiences in the capital. For example, he said, when the moderator asked about urban planning, the candidates would have to mention flood mitigation and their programs for reducing traffic congestion.

“That’s how they can make viewers relate to them, otherwise the debate will be just about concepts,” Hendri said.

A recent study by Indikator Politik Indonesia suggested that the incumbent candidate, Ahok, enjoyed a substantially higher electability than his rivals after the first debate on Jan. 13. It also revealed that 45 percent of the respondents considered the another debate to be “very important” and 41 percent said it was “important’’. Given the debate’s significant influence, experts emphasize that even a simple mistake during the 120 minutes could be costly to a candidate’s electability.