Jakarta – Candidate Ganjar Pranowo maintained his equanimity during Tuesday's feisty first presidential debate of the 2024 contest, his campaign team spokesman and United Development Party (PPP) secretary Achmad Baidowi said.
"Ganjar's [performance] was prime, no emotion," Achmad said on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news.
He added that the ideas the former Central Java governor presented during the event, which was held at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters, were easy to understand and supported by data.
Achmad praised Ganjar for using his two terms of leadership experience in Central Java to demonstrate his fitness to lead the country, asserting that his debate performance was likely to sway undecided voters.
"Ganjar is consistent with the improvement narrative, such as maintaining good programs and improving things that as lacking, as a refinement of President [Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's] policies," he said.
In a contrasting opinion, political analyst Agung Baskoro of Trias Politika Strategis said that while all three presidential candidates were on even ground in terms of preparation, Ganjar's rival Anies Baswedan had an edge over the other two candidates thanks to his consistency during the question-and-answer portion of the debate.
"Anies exceled over Prabowo [Subianto] and Ganjar," Agung said, as quoted by CNN Indonesia on Tuesday after the debate.
Tuesday's presidential debate was the first of five 2024 election debates scheduled by the KPU throughout the campaign season. In the inaugural debate, the three presidential candidates faced off on questions of government, human rights, law, corruption, democracy and public services.