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KPU makes last-minute changes to debate format
The General Elections Commission (KPU) made last-minute changes to the election debates on Wednesday, but other details about the upcoming debates remain unclear as it tries to accommodate the wishes of all the candidates.
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A pedestrian walks on Dec. 5, 2023, near election campaign banners in Surabaya, East Java. Candidates of the 2024 election have ben putting up campaign banners on the roadside and between trees and utility poles across the city since the campaign season started on Nov. 28. (Antara/Didik Suhartono)
The General Elections Commission (KPU) made last-minute changes on Wednesday to the election debates, but other details about the upcoming debates remain unclear as the body tries to accommodate the wishes of all the candidates.
The election body recently found itself in hot water after it implied last week that it would scrap the vice presidential debates for the February election, which would contravene the prevailing law that mandates three presidential debates and two vice presidential debates.
This has led some to speculate that the KPU may have been acting in favor of frontrunner Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming, given that the latter could skip a debate against his more seasoned rivals Mahfud MD and Muhaimin Iskandar.
Despite having the authority to decide the debate’s format on its own, the KPU on Wednesday insisted on taking into account the suggestions of the campaign teams of each candidate pair over how the debates should be run, less than a week before the first election debate next Tuesday.
Speaking after more than a five-hour closed-door meeting with all the candidates’ teams on Wednesday, KPU chairman Hasyim As’yari announced that three debates would be allocated for presidential candidates, including the first debate next Tuesday, and two debates for their running mates.
The candidates participating in the debates will appear on the debate stage with running mates by their sides, despite the latter not actively taking part in the debate and not being given the chance to speak, he added.
“In presidential debates, it will be the presidential candidates who will have all the time to speak. While in vice presidential debates, the vice presidential candidate will have the opportunity to talk,” Hasyim said.
