A political analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. Michael Ofori Mensah has indicated that despite the importance of the presidential debate organized prior to the general elections, it is not yet clear how the debates directly impact the electorates’ choice of a president. Speaking on Multi TV’s current affairs show, pm: EXPRESS, Dr. Ofori Mensah said “I believe that the debates have done a good job whereby not just the public will scrutinize the policies and programs of the presidential candidates but the candidates themselves would have the opportunity with the presidential debate to point out the weaknesses within the programs of their co-contestants and be able to tell us what alternatives they would offer”. He explained the absence of a study on the impact of the presidential debate on voter pattern thus “people would not reveal whom they voted for looking at the cultural issues we have in Ghana. Whether the candidate performs well or not (at the debate), they will still vote for him.” The IEA has since 2000 successfully organized three presidential debates aimed at ensuring free, fair and transparent elections and the fourth in the series of the debates is expected to be held three times before the December 7 polls this year. The dates and venues for this year’s sets of debates according to Dr. Ofori Mensah are yet to be firmed up. He however said there is evidence that voting at the Parliamentary level is different since voters at this point tend to vote for their Members of Parliament based on issues raised by the MP aspirant and not according to party affiliation or loyalty. According to Dr. Ofori Mensah, one of the advantages of the presidential debate is that it contributes to cooling down the political temperature and symbolically makes Ghana’s democracy stand out among that being practiced by her peers on the continent. Ghana as a developing country is working towards promoting issues-based campaign instead of personality-based campaigns and the quadrennial presidential debates serves as a useful platform for presidential candidates to air their policies and programs for developing the country.