KPU Jakarta commissioner Dahliah Umar said the commission would not tolerate any excuse for absence unless the candidates submitted a letter that described that they were either sick or had something urgent on their agenda requiring them to skip the debate.

“One of the sanctions is that they will lose their rights to get free or state-funded campaign facilities,” she said on the sidelines of a discussion about Jakarta elections preparations on Saturday.

Three candidate pairs, namely Agus Harimurti Yudhoyno-Sylviana Murni, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno, are scheduled to attend debates that will be held on Jan. 13, Jan. 27 and Feb. 10.

(Read also: Debate skills needed to lead Jakarta: Experts)

Dahliah said before it determined the dates of the three debates, the commission had discussed it in a number of meetings with all three candidate pairs.

As reported earlier, two debates previously conducted by private television stations were attended only by Ahok-Djarot and Anies-Sandiaga. Commenting on it, Dahliah said that except for official debates organized by the KPU, candidates were allowed to skip such events. (ebf)

Popular

Java airports grounded by low demand, poor planning

Malaysia says China ready to sign SEA nuclear weapons-free treaty

Solving the development crisis with quality finance