VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates greet each other before the first debate begins at the KPU Building in Jakarta on December 12 2023. (ANTARA FOTO/Galih Pradipta/aww) - 

Voinews, Jakarta - Chairperson of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Hasyim Asy'ari, officially opened the first of five presidential debates for the 2024 elections in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"Ladies and gentlemen, on this occasion, we are attending the first debate of the presidential candidates," he said.

He expressed hope that each presidential candidate would share their vision, mission, and work programs during the debate.

"We hope that in this first debate, the presidential candidates will use the opportunity to convey their vision, mission, and work programs that can convince voters to elect them as president for the next five years," he said.

Asy'ari also said he hoped that through the debates, voters would get to learn about the candidates' vision, mission, and work programs.

Issues on governance, law, and human rights, as well as corruption eradication, democratic strengthening, public service improvement, and the creation of harmony among citizens, were the topics discussed in the first presidential debate.

He said that the debate, comprising six segments with commercial breaks, would last 150 minutes.

In each segment, three questions chosen randomly will be asked to the candidates, and each will get two minutes to answer them.

After one candidate answers a question, the other two will have one minute each to respond to the statement. The candidate who answers the question will be given one minute to respond again.

Thus, the total time allocated for responses would be three minutes per question.

The next four debates will take place on December 22, January 7, January 21, and February 4.

Three pairs of candidates contend for the 2024 presidential election: Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD//ANT-VOI