Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) Presidential hopefuls Frank Hsieh and Ma Ying-jeou went head- to-head in the first of two crucial televised debates Sunday with the election less than four weeks away.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) Hsieh and Ma, who represents the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), looked confident and prepared in the first segment of the debate, which included 20 pre-recorded questions in video format from citizens.
The debate was seen as an important platform for both to appeal to the electorate for support in the March 22 election, as well as a chance for Hsieh to close the gap between them, as he has been trailing in most public opinion polls since the campaign began last year.
Hsieh and Ma were asked to answer questions from 20 citizens, including Lo Chao-hsun, who is known for heckling President Chen Shui-bian in public, and Su Chien-ho, a convicted murderer whose controversial death sentence is still under review by the Taiwan High Court.
Both candidates only exchanged friendly fire in the first 10 questions, although Hsieh occasionally took jabs at Ma.
The debate was organized by the CNA, the Public Television Service Foundation and four local newspapers.
In the first two sections of the program, according to the rules, Hsieh and Ma had to respond to the 20 videotaped questions selected by the organizers from among 456 questions contributed to PeoPo, a Web site specially set up for the general public to express their concerns on the Internet over the candidates, their policies, and the future of Taiwan.
The 20 people chosen were then given the opportunity to question both candidates directly at the debate, based on the candidates' answers to the videotaped questions, which included such issues as the identity of Taiwan and its people, Taiwan's participation in the Kyoto Protocol, same-sex marriage, the promotion of aboriginal culture, social welfare and economic development.
In the third section of the program, each presidential hopeful challenged his opponent with three questions, with responses requiring to be made within a time limit of one minute.
At the end of the program, Hsieh and Ma were each given three minutes to make concluding remarks.