Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's General Elections Commission (KPU) has received recommendations from a number of stakeholders on the format of the presidential and vice presidential debates and the strategic issues to be covered during the debates.

KPU member August Mellaz said here on Wednesday that the recommendations were conveyed after the commission held a forum group discussion (FGD) on the debate mechanism with government representatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics, and journalists.

"Earlier, there was a proposal from academics on the implementation of the debate to be held on campus. We will use this as input and continue to discuss and formulate it," he informed when interviewed at the KPU Office on Wednesday.

According to him, regarding the debate format, the stakeholders have suggested that panelists ask questions on the candidate pairs' plans and programs rather than touch upon just broad issues.

"We have received a lot of inputs, and we need to formulate (the debate structure) at the leadership level. We will also communicate with the representatives of each presidential and vice presidential pairs regarding the debate plan," he said.

He added that the KPU will invite panelists who were involved in previous presidential debates to discuss ways to make the debates less monotonous and more interactive.

"The generation of voters will be shifting, about 53 percent of (the voters) are young people, and they have preferences and different interests, which means the questions must be relevant," Mellaz said.

There will be separate formats for open and closed questions during the debates.

Major issues such as environmental protection and other current issues will be discussed more specifically during the debate, he added.

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Translator: Donny A, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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