<![CDATA[This study examines the use of policy-based and character-based acclaims in the 2024 Bengkulu Regional Election Debate from the standpoint of Benoit’s Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse. The objective of the research is to examine the distribution of past deeds and future plans within policy-based acclaims, as well as personal qualities and ideals within character-based acclaims. Utilizing data obtained from two official mayoral debate sessions conducted during the 2024 Bengkulu Regional Election, a quantitative content analysis methodology was implemented. The candidate utterances were coded according to the categories of policy-based and character-based acclaims, forming the unit of analysis. Krippendorff’s Alpha was employed to evaluate intercoder reliability, which was found to be satisfactory to high. The result indicated that policy-based acclaims utilized future plans significantly more frequently than past deeds. In character-based acclaims, personal qualities were more frequently cited than ideals. During the debate, candidates primarily rely on future-oriented policy proposals and demonstrations of competence and leadership ability to construct positive self-representations and obtain voter support, according to these findings. This investigation enhances comprehension of political communication strategies utilized during regional election debates in Indonesia.]]>
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