Rules of engagement

The time has come for some rules to be put in place to regulate how televised debates between political leaders are conducted so that there is some uniformity and a pattern that can be repeated.

In most democratic countries, the decision of whether or not to hold a television debate, how it will be carried out and who will be responsible for asking the tough questions are not matters left to the politicians themselves or their parties.

There needs to be a clear set of steps so that the process is carried out in the same way before every election.

Greeks have suffered through more than their share of extremely dull debates because the country’s politicians are too insecure to answer real questions; instead, the participants limit themselves to tedious monologues in which they repeat the same things they’ve said before.

A framework is needed to ensure that such forums do exactly what they’re supposed to do: inform the public.