In this regard, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has released the complete schedule for the 2024 presidential and vice-presidential debates which will be held 5 times starting from 12 December 2023 to 4 February 2024.
Commissioner of the KPU, August Mellaz said that the debate event would start at 19.00 WIB and be broadcast live via TV and radio stations, and all debates would be held in Jakarta. As for the venue for the debate, for now, it starts at the KPU's headquarters in Jakarta. In this first debate, the commission has prepared 2 moderators and 11 panelists.
The first debate, on December 12, 2023, has the theme of law, human rights, government, corruption eradication, and strengthening democracy and citizen harmony. Secondly, on December 22, 2023, it’s about defense, security, geopolitics, and international relations. The third debate on January 7, 2024, is about community and digital economy, social welfare, investment, trade, digital tax, finance, management of the state and regional revenue and expenditure budget, as well as infrastructure.
The fourth debate on January 21, 2024 is related to energy, natural resources, food, carbon tax, environment, agrarian affairs, and indigenous peoples. The fifth one on February 4, 2024 is about information technology, improving public services, hoaxes, intolerance, education, health (post-Covid society), and employment.
The presidential and vice-presidential debates are the right moment that all Indonesian citizens have been waiting for because the effect of the debates have a big influence on the vote tally next year. Therefore, all parties from the 3 vice-presidential candidate pairs should prepared thoroughly and carefully, especially on how to attract the sympathy of potential voters. Most of them are young voters who are going to cast their votes for the first time.
As is known, Indonesia is the third largest democratic country in the world, with a population based on data from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics, reaching 278 million people in mid-2023. The total number of voters is estimated to reach 74% of Indonesia's total population; most of whom are first-time voters.
Therefore, candidates are required to have strong, innovative, creative, and clear abilities and ideas as well as mature readiness to face complex future challenges. Indonesia must be able to take advantage of the demographic bonus in 2045, and today's young voters are the ones who will become the nation's leaders and policymakers in the future.