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Elections body criticized over debate confusion
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General Elections Comission (KPU) head Hasyim Asy'ari (center) reads the Peaceful 2024 Election Campaign Declaration at the commission's headquarters in Jakarta on Nov. 27, 2023, as the three 2024 candidate pairs look on. The declaration, signed by the six candidates as well as representatives of the 18 political parties participating in the 2024 election, calls for a safe, peaceful, orderly and ethical election. It also calls for one free of hoaxes, vote buying and sectarian identity politics. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
The pressure is on for the General Elections Commission (KPU) to be decisive about its hosting of the official 2024 election debates, amid a lack of clarity over the format and low trust in the commission’s perceived neutrality.
Some seventy days before one of the world’s biggest single-day elections commences in Indonesia, voters are keen to follow the five scheduled televised debates to form their opinion of who to vote for next year.
The first of the debates will be held next Tuesday and will feature the three candidates challenging one another over their campaign platforms on national TV.
However, concerns have arisen among some election candidates and election watchdogs, after KPU chief Hasyim Asy’ari announced abrupt changes to the debate’s format, potentially contravening existing regulations.
Hasyim implied last week that all five debates would feature both presidential and vice presidential candidates as opposed to three presidential debates and two vice presidential debates, as is mandated by law.
While the law does not specify the technicalities of hosting a debate, tradition dictates that both presidential and vice presidential candidates would at one point be given separate opportunities to challenge their counterparts, making for a level playing field.
In 2019, for instance, two rounds of presidential debates were followed by one round featuring their running mates, before the candidate pairs faced off against one another in the two final debates.
