In recent years, debates among candidates for local, state and national offices have become an increasingly regular part of elections in a diverse range of countries. Debates promote dialogue around public policy issues, help voters make informed choices, enhance political tolerance and help hold elected officials accountable. Despite the growing popularity of debates and the positive contribution they make to the political process, sponsors must often surmount a range of daunting political and technical hurdles to make debates happen.

Building on work in more than 30 countries collectively over the last two decades, NDI and the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has sponsored and produced all U.S. presidential and vice presidential general election debates since 1988, organized an International Debates Best Practices Workshop in Washington, D.C., from July 20 to July 22.  NDI and the CPD brought together representatives from debate-sponsoring organizations from a dozen countries on five continents to identify the most effective approaches to organizing debates. The workshop agenda included all aspects of organizing debates including creation of a debates group, criteria for participating candidates, fundraising, debate formats, security, television and radio production, and public outreach strategies, among other topics. Participating groups included longstanding debate organizations as well as those interested in exploring the idea of holding debates in their countries for the first time. The countries represented were Burundi, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Jamaica, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, Romania, Uganda and Ukraine.

The participants, who represented think tanks, media outlets, civil society organizations and academic institutions, also discussed creating an international network of debate sponsors, an online resource center and a debates best practices guide. Speakers at the event included U.S. media and political figures including CPD Co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf and two journalists who have moderated U.S. presidential or vice presidential debates, Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and Bernard Shaw, CNN anchor emeritus.

Learn more at the Debates International website.

Published July 6, 2009