KPU evaluates presidential debates

JAKARTA. The General Elections Commission (KPU) says it will evaluate all presidential debates ahead of the July 9 election to help voters identify their preferred candidate.

“One day after the debate[s] we will conduct a meeting with representatives from each presidential-vice presidential team. We will evaluate what aspects of the debate should be maintained, and what aspects ought to be improved for the next debate,” KPU commissioner Arief Budiman said at the commission’s headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

He added that Monday’s presidential debate between candidate pairs Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa and Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Jusuf Kalla at Balai Sarbini could be improved in many areas, and that the commission was pleased to receive input from both sides.

“Many people have made recommendations, though I don’t believe [that means] that Monday’s debate was deficient,” Arief said.

The KPU has prepared five themes to help organize the presidential and vice presidential debates; democracy development, clean government and legal certainty; economic development and social prosperity; international politics and national security; human resources and science and technology development; and food, energy and environment.

The presidential debates are a key feature of the presidential election period: 32 days of campaigning that takes place between June 4 and July 5, with three days of “cooling-off” before July 9 when voters go to the polls.

The debates are meant to grant candidates an opportunity to make direct appeals to Indonesian citizens about their respective visions.

The schedule for the four remaining debates is below.

June 15: Prabowo and Jokowi debate economic development and social prosperity, to be broadcast live on Metro TV.

June 22: Prabowo and Jokowi debate internal politics and national security,” to be aired live on TV One and ANTV.

June 29: Hatta and Kalla debate human resources and science and technology development, to be broadcast live on RCTI, MNCTV and Global TV.

July 5: Prabowo-Hatta and Jokowi-Kalla debate food, energy and environment, to be aired live on TVRI and Kompas TV. (ebf)