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Organizers tout debate between Ma, Frank Hsieh

The first televised debate between Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will take place after the Jan. 12 legislative elections, the organizers of the debate said.

The six organizers of the televised debate -- the Public Television Service (PTS) channel, the Central News Agency, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper), the China Times, the United Daily News and the Apple Daily -- made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday.

Also present at the event were Hsieh and his aide Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Ma aide Chan Chun-po (詹春柏).

The organizers hope to hold two debates, with the first taking place on Jan. 26 or Jan. 27, and the second on March 1 or March 2, said Chen Shen-ching (陳申青), PTS deputy general manager and convener of a preparatory committee for the debate.

However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on when the debate(s) should be held and it is unclear how many will now take place.

Hsieh proposed that the first debate be held on the date chosen by the organizers, while Chan asked the organizers to help negotiate between the DPP and the KMT on selecting a date.

Prior to the press conference, Ma had insisted that the debate be held in February.

Under the plan for the debate, the two presidential candidates will answer questions from 20 members of the public and from media representatives.

The 20 individuals will be selected from a Web site to which members of the public are invited to upload their questions in 30-second video clips, the organizers said.

Would-be participants could also send their video clips on CD-ROMs to the organizers, they said, adding that the Web site also allowed the DPP and the KMT to respond to the posted questions.

In addition, the organizers said the 20 people selected will be invited to the televised debate to raise follow-up questions.

Through the debate, the organizers said they hope that the two candidates can take the opportunity to listen and respond to the public, rather than engaging in a smear campaign against each other.
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