Kryfona parliamentary election debates, 2011

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Dajeila head.png Yaszika awaseq.png Czesikna head.png
Dajeila Zasane
UKP
Yaszika Awaseq
KRP
Czesikna Kazna
KLP
Uyseila head.png Rozhha head.png Layan.png
Uyseila Livaqiyats
YKM
Rožha Keräň
PZT
Layăn Togirika
ARY
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Between 15 August and 5 September, 2011, five parliamentary election debates were organized and held by the Commission of Federal Elections as part of the campaign for the 2011 parliamentary election. These debates were the seventh series of debates organized by the CFE since the tradition was established in 1969. As per the norm, all federal parties–in this case, the United Kryfona Party, the Kryfona Loyalist Party, the Kryfona Royalist Party, the Yaraan Kryfon's Movement, the Pažem Tuszkeya, and the Aryela Party–were invited to attend. The first debate was held on 15 August, the second on 20 August, the third on 25 August, the fourth on 30 August, and the last debate on 5 September. All debates were held between 6 and 8 PM Nylzsryf Standard Time.

The debates were the most watched and listened to in the history of the Kryfona Kingdom, with an estimated 49,000,000 viewers, or about 60% of the population. A majority of those who watched or listened to the debates went on to vote–over 45,000,000 people voted in the 2011 election–and in polls taken after the election, almost 65% of voters said that the debates had to some degree impacted how they voted. UKP leader Dajeila Zasane and Pažem leader Rožha Keräň were widely considered to be the two big winners during the debates, while KRP leader Yaszika Awaseq was widely criticized for his performances. The UKP ultimately retained its minority government in the election, expanding its minority government to 49 seats from 42 on the back of the best performance by the Pažem Tuszkeya since its high water mark in 1975.

Organization of debates

In every election since 1963, the Commission of Federal Elections, a non-partisan government organization which organizes all federal elections, has been given the authority to organize and host debates. The Kryfonsparliszaiye unanimously approved a piece of legislation–the Commission Debate Organization Act (2010)–that granted the body the rights to organize all federal election debates through the 2029 elections on 1 July, 2010. King Iodalosku approved the act one day later on 2 July, 2010.

The Commission of Federal Elections has only a single criterion for inclusion in debates, which is that a party must be standing for federal election. Size or polling strength of a party is considered irrelevant due to the first-past-the-post voting system which the Kryfona Kingdom uses for Kryfonsparliszaiye seats, which creates discrepancies in vote percentage and seat percentage. Parties are not obligated to attend the debates–although a party has never turned down an invitation to a CFE organized debate since they began in 1963–and may send any party representative, prospective MP, or standing MP to the debates to represent their party. Multiple representatives may represent the party throughout the debates, and in several cases this has occurred either as strategy or due to an external complication. The Kryfona Royalist Party for example sent party secretary Aziosan Awaseq to the 3rd debate in 2005 after Yaszika Awaseq came down with illness late in the campaign.

Main venues and alternative venues (in case of conflicting schedule or emergency) for each debate were chosen by 1 January, 2011. The first debate was hosted at the University of Nylzsryf at North Nylzsryf, the second at the University of Eiwena, the third at Univesöje Kežaňňeta, the fourth at the University of Norasa, and the fifth at the University of Aszaeh. As is typical of the debate, trail, each stop was deliberately chosen in an effort to represent the most possible citizens in the Kryfona Kingdom. The lack of an Arieles minority stop was questioned by the media, but ultimately pacified when the CFE announced in 2017 the city of Aryela would be guaranteed to host one of the debates.

Debate moderator pairs were announced for the five debates on 10 July, 2011.

Debate 1: Nylzsryf at North Nylzsryf (15 August)

Format

The first scheduled debate occurred on 15 August, 2011 at the University of Nylzsryf at North Nylzsryf, with a scheduled time of two hours. The debate was held in the amphitheater of the university with a live audience, and broadcast via both radio and television to the rest of the Kingdom. The debate was divided into four major sections of 30 minutes each, with each party leader being given five minutes to answer a series of questions. This was one of two debates to be done in this format.

The four sections of the debate were economy, foreign policy, rights in the Kingdom, and future of the country. Notably, the section on the future of the country was newly introduced; candidates had not been previously asked on this matter in any of the previous debates.

Reception

The debate's two big winners were Rožha Keräň and Dajeila Zasane, both of whom won over viewers and performed very well in the debate according to most of those polled. Keräň won the post-debate polls of Nylzsryfa, the Lawvsgara Times, and Yadysima, while Zasane won the Azsaeha post-debate poll. Both of them ran reasonably ahead of the KLP's Czesikna Kazna, who was seen as middling by most of the debate audience but ultimately came third in the post-debate polls of all four newspapers. Uyseila Livaqiyats, leader of the YKM, fell shortly behind him in all but the Lawvsgara Times poll, in which he came tied with Layăn Togirika at 13% of viewers saying he had wont he debate. Togirika himself was received poorly by much of the audience, but made a respectable showing for the Aryela Party by winning over more voters than the party ever had historically: only in the Azsaeha did he win less than 10% of viewers. Yaszika Awaseq came dead last in all four polls, winning over more than 5% of viewers in just the Azsaeha. It was the worst performance for any major party debate candidate in over three decades.

Debater (Party) Post-debate poll (%)
Nylzsryfa Azsaeha Lawvsgara Times Yadysima
Dajeila Zasane (UKP) 21 27 23 23
Yaszika Awaseq (KRP) 4 7 5 4
Czesikna Kazna (KLP) 19 17 20 18
Uyseila Livaqiyats (YKM) 18 14 13 17
Rožha Keräň (PZT) 26 26 26 24
Layăn Togirika (ARY) 12 9 13 14


See also