Few forums offer a better opportunity to compare one promising presidential candidate with another than a live policy debate on television. But the 2012 presidential election may go down in history as one that had no TV face-off between the two most competitive candidates.

The responsibility lies with Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, who has turned down invitations from two terrestrial television networks to participate in live debates with her main rival, Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party.

Earlier in the week, Park declined proposals to hold three live TV debates ― one to be hosted by SBS and the other two by KBS. It was not the first time for her to refuse to participate in such debates.

She turned down proposals for three-way TV debates when she had a neck-and-neck race with Moon and the independent Ahn Cheol-soo before presidential hopefuls were required to register as candidates on Sunday and Monday.

At the time, she had valid grounds, if not a convincing reason, to oppose the proposed debates. She claimed that it would be meaningless to hold a three-way debate because one of her two rivals, who had been negotiating a single candidacy, would not run in the election.

With Ahn having bowed out of the race now, it stands to reason for her to face Moon. But she continues to turn down invitations from the networks, offering the lame excuse that her campaign schedule will remain too tight until the Dec. 19 election day. If she does not change her mind, there will be no one-on-one TV debate with Moon.

True, she is set to participate in live TV debates on three occasions as required by law. But the debates, which will also include Lee Jung-hee of the United Progressive Party, will be no match for one-on-one debates as far as dynamism is concerned. Moreover, where Lee stands in policy does not count for much, because she stands virtually no chance of winning the election, given her negligable approval ratings.

Park will have to agree to one-on-one TV debates if she does not want to give the impression that she is not confident enough to engage Moon. Her continued refusal may cause the electorate to wonder if she is really qualified to govern the nation during the next five years.