Make presidential debates attractive to candidates

Globally, presidential debates, which provide a perfect platform for issue-based discussions, have become a byword for democratic elections.

Although Kenya has held such debates since 2013, Azimio party’s presidential flagbearer, former Premier Raila Odinga, and his Roots Party counterpart George Wajackoyah, stayed away from the debates slated for July 26, 2022.

This has turned a sharp spotlight on the myriad challenges that bedevil debates featuring aspirants to high political offices worldwide.

These debates are as old as democracy itself. They were an indelible feature of democratic practice in ancient Greece and the Roman Republic.

In his prolific writings, the Senator and great defender of the Roman Republic, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), underscores the power of rhetoric as the cornerstone of ancient democracies.

The wave of liberal revolutions that swept through America and France in the 19th Century enthroned the concept of accountability that now undergirds presidential debates. 

Despite that, presidential debates are a recent development in democracies linked to the development of radios and televisions, boosted by electronic technologies including computers, tablets, smartphones, laptops, desktop computers, electronic mail, internet access and networks, among others.

The first-ever televised presidential debate was between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy in America during the 1960 campaign. France followed suit in 1974 when it held its first televised presidential debate.

Africa lagging behind

In Africa, presidential debates are spin-offs of Samuel Huntington’s ‘Third Wave’ of democratisation after 1989, which saw more than 87 nations conducting debates.

However, Africa is yet to integrate candidate debates into its electoral processes.

Only three out of 54 African countries have conducted presidential debates, namely Egypt (2012), Kenya (2013, 2017 and 2022) and Tunisia (2019).

These debates are living proof of a healthy democracy, characterised by an open and transparent election process where all candidates can compete equally.

As the world slipped into a democratic recession, the platforms are seen as a stabilising force for fragile democracies.

Debates provide rival candidates with a rare moment to be seen together in public.

This, in turn, helps reduce political tensions and promotes political tolerance, constructive dialogue, and service to the people. 

Debates are more than just discussions about policies; they are part of the campaign process.

They help voters make informed choices and promote accountability on the part of elected officials, holding them to their campaign promises.

Public debates are expected to refocus candidates on policy issues, away from personality or ethnic biases.

In countries emerging from violent conflicts, debates can help minimise the potential for violence as candidates commit to a peaceful election, accept election results and use nonviolent legal channels to resolve election disputes.

Poisoned chalice

However, presidential debates have become the proverbial poisoned chalice.

Part of the problem is that these high-level debates are neither mandatory nor legally enforceable.

Candidates are attracted to the debates by their interests and repelled by risks to these interests.

Candidates often opt to stay away from debates, especially during moments of intense political tension.

Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, no presidential debates were held ahead of the 1964 elections.

Richard Nixon also refused to participate in any debate in 1968 and 1972.

Recently, one of the three initially planned presidential debates for 2020 in the United States of America between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was cancelled after Trump was diagnosed with Covid-19.

He refused to appear remotely rather than in person.

Complicating matters further is the fact that organisers are largely feeble and ad hoc.

In the US, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was only established in 1987 as a non-profit corporation under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties.

It replaced the League of Women Voters, which had sponsored televised debates since the 1976 elections.

Political bias

In Kenya, the Presidential Debates Secretariat, a joint organ of the Media Owners Association, the Media Council of Kenya and the Kenya Editors’ Guild, has organised presidential debates since 2013.

Weak organisers have been unable to allay fears of political bias, convince doubtful candidates to participate and negotiate a common broadcast with rival media outlets.

Worse still, organisers have often convened debates before forging sufficient consensus on the issues to be debated.

Those who feel excluded have tended to boycott debates. Odinga cited the failure of the Presidential Debate Secretariat to “focus on corruption, integrity, ethics and governance, the key existential questions that Kenya faces.” 

The secretariat that organised Kenya’s 2022 presidential debates insisted that “the moderators will select the questions to be asked, and shall NOT share the same with the candidates” and they would “not meet with any of the campaign teams or the candidates”.

Future debates should not be interviews shrouded in undue secrecy but should fully engage the candidates on the issues before the debate.

The participation of third parties in debates remains a thorny issue in democracies.

Roots Party leader Wajackoyah also stayed out of the presidential debate, citing “discrimination by the media”.

He rejected a two-phased plan where the ‘weaker’ and ‘stronger’ candidates would debate separately. 

In the US, the CPD has stoked protests and attracted multiple lawsuits by its rule, adopted in 2000, requiring that a candidate must garner at least 15 per cent support across five national polls of its choosing to qualify for the debate.

Moderators must rein in rogue debaters who veer away from policy issues and engage in personality attacks.

What might have forced Odinga to give a wide berth to the 2022 debate is the failure of moderators to censure United Democratic Alliance running mate Rigathi Gachagua when he ceaselessly attacked President Uhuru Kenyatta during the Deputy Presidential Debate on July 19.

Similarly, following the first debate in the US in 2020, Democrats criticised the CPD for being too lenient on President Trump and moderators not doing enough to prevent interruptions from Trump.

Ultimately, it is upon the organizers to make these debates attractive to all candidates.

Prof Peter Kagwanja is Chief Executive at the Africa Policy Africa Institute and Adjunct Professor at the University of Nairobi and the National Defence University.