The format of candidate debates is almost always subject to some form of regulation, whether voluntary or by external rules.
Denmark has a strong history of panel debates, regulated essentially by tradition. The public broadcasting station runs 10-minute direct access slots from each party, following which the party leader is subjected to a 30-minute interview by a panel of journalists. Shortly before the polling day there is a three-hour broadcast debate. On the public broadcaster this has traditionally involved all parties, although commercial broadcasters have confined it to the main parties.
Newer democracies have often felt the need to manage the form and content of debates more closely. This might be necessary in situations where there is a long history of government control over the media and a consequent fear that opposition views might be disadvantaged in the debate.
Estonia
In Estonia the management of special election programmes is closely controlled by law. The regulations on election coverage for the state radio and television even sets out seven topic areas that the debates should cover, as well as specifying the number of representatives each party can have in the debates depending on how many candidates they are fielding. (See 'mex09')
Malawi
In Malawi in 1994, the Electoral Commission did not specify the topics for debate - but it had rules for almost everything else. There were to be six debates, three each in each of the main cities. The eight political parties would be equally represented in one debate in each city - in other words, four parties took part in each debate and each party took part in three debates. These were public debates and the Electoral Commission guidelines even set out procedures for allocating tickets. Each debate was also broadcast twice.
Questions were posed by a panel of six journalists. Timings for the debate were extremely precise: one minute for each question, one and a half minutes for each response, two minutes summing up time and so on. There were five questions in each debate. (See Malawi: Election Reporting Guidelines - Election Commission 1994)
