Ready Whatever The Format, Ganjar Only Questions The Duration Of Asking The Answer To The 2024 Presidential Election Debate

Presidential Candidate number 3 Ganjar Pranowo in the first debate of the 2024 presidential election at the KPU Office, Jakarta, Tuesday 12 December 2023. (ANTARA-HO-Team Media Ganjar)

JAKARTA - Presidential candidate (candidate) number 2, Ganjar Pranowo stated that he is ready to face various presidential election debate formats in 2024.

This follows the suggestion of the Deputy Chairperson of Gerindra Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo regarding the debate of the vice presidential candidate (cawapres) using the town hall format on Friday, December 22.

"What is the model wherever I go, the town hall model, okay, the usual stage model, okay," said Ganjar at the Darussalam Timur Islamic Boarding School (Ponpes), Magelang, Central Java, Sunday, December 17, which was confiscated by Antara.

According to him, a place to argue is not really important. He considered the problem was the lack of a question and answer room during the debate.

"The important thing is that it's not the place for me, the debate is like that (ask questions)," he said.

For this reason, the question and answer room during the debate should be increased. This is so that the candidates can also submit data from the programs they carry, not only their thoughts.

"Drugs are allowed to ask questions and answer a little bit so that you can't convey different thoughts, you can show data like that and it can be repeated," he said.

The question room for answer in the debate given by the KPU, he continued, was still lacking. There are still things that need to be further clarified in question and answer.

"Yesterday, it was only twice, yes. So, there are still those who are blocking it. We want to clarify our efforts, we only need the public to say that in this attitude yes or no," he said.

He continued, "My efforts to ask about IKN, are you yes or not? Let the public know, then can he judge why yes and why not? Or about the human rights court, whether it's bait or not so that the public will get out of those messages."

Ganjar also regretted that these questions were unanswered.

"Unfortunately yesterday it didn't arrive in a position to convince it. If it's a place, any model can," concluded Ganjar.

Previously, Deputy Gerindra Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo or Sara criticized the venue for the presidential election format organized by the KPU. Sara proposed that the debate format be changed to a town hall meeting.

Sara initially criticized the location of the outdoor or outdoor debate. He said that the debate arena was very hot because it was filled with lighting, but there was no air conditioner.

"Actually, there is a lot of input that expects the format of the debate to change, not the format of the debate in which the three candidate pairs stand. What's more, what I ask is that my friends out there understand yesterday, it wasn't in the building. Yesterday it was even an outdoor that was very hot with spotlight, there was no AC at all," Sara told reporters, Friday, December 15,

Deputy Commander of Fanta for Young Voters of the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team (TKN) also mentioned the position of the presidential candidate who was standing when other presidential candidates spoke. He considered it might cause discomfort.

"These three candidate pairs, these three presidential candidates are asked to stand up and have no seats, no rest at the time others talk. So, I can imagine that it might cause discomfort," he said.

Sara proposed that the presidential election debate format be like a town hall meeting. According to him, experts or cross-generational representatives can ask questions as well as explore the ideas of the presidential candidates.

The KPU has held the first debate for the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday night, December 12. The theme of the debate is government, law, human rights, eradication of corruption, strengthening democracy, improving public services, and harmony of citizens.

The debate was followed by three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates, namely number 1 Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, serial number 2 Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and serial number 3 Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md.

The series of debates will continue on December 22, 2023, January 7, 2024, January 21, 2024, and February 4, 2024.

The KPU has also set a campaign period from November 28, 2023 to February 10, 2024, then the voting schedule will be on February 14, 2024.