TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka responded to the recent issues of his absence from the presidential and vice presidential debates organized by other parties.

“I’ll be coming to official debates,” Gibran told reporters after the support declaration event in Jakarta, on Wednesday, Dec. 6, as quoted from Antara.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) earlier announced that there will be five presidential and vice presidential debates; three debates for presidential candidates, and two debates for their running mates.

The first debate is allocated for three presidential candidates and is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 12. The second debate on Dec. 22 will be for the vice presidential candidates.

Gibran did not elaborate on his reasons for not accepting the public debate invitations. Ahead of the 2024 election in February, a number of TV stations and community groups held debate events for the three pairs of presidential-vice presidential candidates.

At present, the KPU is still waiting for each campaign team of the three candidate pairs to recommend the names of the debate panelists, “which must be submitted to the KPU within the next two days, on Friday, Dec. 8,” the KPU chairman Hasyim Asy’ari said.

He claimed that the KPU had prepared the list of names of panelists and moderators for each topic of the debates. However, the poll agency would consider any suggestions from each campaign team.

Hasyim also said that the panelists will be chosen based on the topic of the debates, rather than their representation from western or eastern regions of Indonesia.

KUKUH S. WIBOWO

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