Hence, Indef researcher Riza Annisa Pujarama said she deplored the failure of the three vice presidential candidates to present their vision and mission and solutions to the village problems during the debate.
"Unfortunately, they failed to present substantive solutions to the village problems despite their complete vision and missions, especially related to village-related issues," she noted here, Monday.
Speaking at Indef's response to the debate that took place at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Sunday evening, Pujarama remarked that the village problems were not only related to village funds.
Ideally, Muhaimin Iskandar, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Mahfud MD were able to explore a wide range of village problems in the country during their final debate of the election campaign season, Pujarama noted.
One of the major problems is how to make villages in Indonesia become the centers of growth in an endeavor to implement the development model for peripheral regions, she stated.
However, the vice presidential debate failed to explore this issue. What could be observed during the debate was only a pledge to increase the amount of village funds, she added.
The pledge to increase the village funds, from Rp1 billion to Rp5 billion for every village that one of the vice presidential candidates conveyed was not followed by sufficient explanation about the essence of the funds.
Moreover, no explanations were provided about how the village funds would be used and how effective they would be, according to Pujarama.
The fourth debate of the election season was organized by the General Elections Commission (KPU) for the vice presidential candidates.
During the debate, Muhaimin and his rivals, Gibran and Mahfud, focused on sustainable development, natural resources, environment, energy, food, agrarian issues, customary law communities, and villages.
Gibran, Muhaimin, and Mahfud participated in the second round of the election debate on December 22, 2023, during which they raised several issues related to finance, the people's economy, digital economy, infrastructure, trade and investment, as well as the state budget.
ANTARA reported earlier that the KPU had informed that a total of 204,807,222 voters had been registered on the final voter list for the 2024 General Elections.
The KPU also announced that the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held simultaneously across Indonesia on February 14.
The commission has officially set a 75-day election campaign period for the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates from November 28, 2023, to February 10, 2024.
All participating political parties and presidential contenders have pledged to conduct peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections.
As part of the efforts to make voters aware of the three candidate pairs' political pledges, the commission has decided to organize five rounds of debates ahead of the presidential elections.
The first and second rounds were held on December 12 and December 22, 2023. The third round took place on January 7, 2024, while the fourth round was held on Jan 21 and the fifth round will be held on Feb 4.
The three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates contesting the presidential election are Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.
Baswedan and Iskandar have been nominated with the support of the NasDem Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Ummat Party.
Meanwhile, Prabowo and Gibran have the backing of the Gerindra Party and a coalition of parties, including Golkar, National Mandate Party (PAN), Democratic Party, and Gelora Party.
Pranowo and Mahfud have the support of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), United Development Party, Perindo Party, and Hanura Party.
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Translator: I.Silfia, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Azis Kurmala
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
