Banda Aceh, October 15:

The electoral committee of Indonesia’s Aceh province said today it has disqualified three pairs of gubernatorial candidates, citing their failure to pass a Koranic reading test.

Candidates in Aceh, the staunch Muslim province that is to hold elections for the posts of governor and vice governor on December 11, are required to pass a reading test before they are accepted.

The polls are part of a historic agreement reached in August last year between the government and the then separatist Free Aceh Movement.