US presidential debate: All you need to know about new rules for final debate

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the voting day on November 3, US President Donald Trump and his rival Democratic candidate Joe Biden will face each other one last time on Friday evening IST for the final debate at Nashville. However, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates changed the rules of the debate, three weeks after a chaotic opening faceoff between the two presidential contenders that featured frequent interruptions.


Here is all you need to know:

• As in the first debate, Trump and Biden will be allotted two minutes of speaking time to initially answer the moderator’s questions.

• However, as per the new rules, the microphone of the opponent will be on mute to enable uninterrupted opening remarks of the speaker.

• After the candidates finish their two-minute replies, they will be allowed to freely engage with one another for the remainder of the segment.

• The debate will be moderated by Kristen Welker of NBC News and is divided into six segments of 15 minutes apiece.

While the Trump campaign opposes the changes made, the President said he will debate Biden. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says Trump “is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide an advantage to their favoured candidate.”

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One after a day of campaigning in Arizona, Trump raised objections to the commission’s plans but confirmed that he would take part in the debate. “I’ll participate, I just think it is very unfair,” Trump said. “I will participate, but it’s very unfair that they changed the topics and it is very unfair that again we have an anchor who is totally biased.”

Why the rules were changedThe commission acknowledged earlier on Monday that both campaigns might be dissatisfied with the new rules. “One may think they go too far, and one may think they do not go far enough,” the commission said in a statement. “We are comfortable that these actions strike the right balance and that they are in the interest of the American people, for whom these debates are held.”

The debate commission had pledged to curtail the chaos that ensued at last month’s first debate in Cleveland when Trump was criticized for frequently interrupting Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News.(With inputs from agencies)