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Observers question KPU’s credibility over nixed VP election debate
Several experts have questioned the election organizer’s credibility over its decision to eliminate the vice presidential debate next year.
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Presidential candidates (from left) Anies Baswedan and running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD pose for photographers on Nov. 14, 2023 at the General Elections Commission (KPU) in Jakarta. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
Last week’s decision by the General Elections Commission (KPU) to remove the vice presidential debate from the 2024 election season has elicited a strong reaction from several parties, which said the decision put the commission’s credibility on the line.
Halili Hasan, executive director of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said the new election debate format was a far cry from that of the 2019 election.
“The KPU should consider public sentiment regarding the people’s trust in the [electoral system] as the ‘last gamble’ of democratic institutions, which are on an increasing decline and leading to authoritarianism,” Halili said in a written statement on Monday.
Andika Perkasa, deputy chair of the Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD campaign team, questioned whether the KPU had consulted the House of Representatives (DPR) on the change to the debate format.
.Kompas.com“The KPU can make changes after coordinating with the DPR,” Andika said on Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com.
“[We want to know] whether coordination with the DPR has been carried out,” he added.
Executive director Pangi Syarwi Chaniago of the Voxpol Center Research and Consulting said the change in the debate format appeared to benefit only one of the three candidate pairs in the 2024 race.
