MANSFIELD - Voters will have the chance to size up the five men vying to win two open selectmen seats in the May 13 town election when the candidates meet for a televised debate on Thursday night.

The Sun Chronicle is sponsoring the debate, which will be broadcast live at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday from the Mansfield cable television studio. It will be rebroadcast repeatedly in the days leading up to the balloting.

There will not be an audience beyond one guest per candidate due to the small size of the cable studio.

The debate moderator will be Bill Gouveia, a Sun Chronicle columnist and a former Norton selectman who was elected town moderator in Norton on Tuesday in a write-in campaign.

The questions will be asked by Sun Chronicle Editor Mike Kirby and a panelist from The Mansfield News. The five selectmen candidates are Jess Aptowitz, Robert Goldman, Kevin Moran, Hasib Thomas and write-in candidate Daniel Pascucci.

Each candidate will be allowed to make an opening and closing statement.

All candidates will answer the same questions during the debate.

They will have two minutes to answer, and 30 seconds for a rebuttal.

Gouveia, who has moderated two previous political debates in Mansfield, said the forum plays an important role in the electoral process.

"It allows people to see them answering questions in an unscripted manner, and it gives them a more personal insight into the people they're voting for," he said.

Gouveia had also planned to have the three school committee candidates debate, but that portion of the broadcast was scrapped when the two incumbents - Frank DelVecchio and Michael Trowbridge - refused to take part.

Challenger Felicia Walker had accepted.