Deflecting speculation that the General Elections Commission (KPU) is looking to scrap the upcoming rounds of vice presidential debates, the poll body has assured that it will comply with prevailing regulations, including setting aside two of the five rounds of debates for VP contenders.

With the campaign season for the February election now in full swing, voters have started to look forward to the televised debates, seen by many as a chance for the future leaders to defend their visions and challenge their opponents to win over voters for next year’s election.

KPU chair Hasyim Asy’ari said on Friday that all three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates would be “present” for all rounds of the debate, but that they would be given different proportions of speaking time in each round.

“This is so that the public can be convinced of the teamwork between the presidential candidates and their running mates throughout the debate,” Hasyim said, as quoted by Kompas.com.

His statement came following a series of meetings on Nov. 29 between the KPU, relevant government bodies and the representatives of each presidential pair, as well as media leaders and political experts.

His remarks, however, have raised eyebrows, leading to speculation that the KPU was looking for both presidential candidates and their running mates to be on stage for all rounds of debate, and that the KPU has decided to scrap the vice presidential debate rounds entirely.

Either would contradict the 2017 General Elections Law, which mandates that three rounds of debate be allocated for presidential candidates, while the remaining two rounds are to be allocated for their running mates. This format is also mandated in the KPU’s own regulation, or PKPU, issued in mid-July.

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