Aceh Quietly Votes for Change

April 10, 2012

Banda Aceh. Millions of people in Aceh cast their ballots on Monday in largely peaceful elections that could usher in new leaders at the provincial, district and municipal levels.

“The level of participation in these regional elections was quite high this time, reaching 78.38 percent,” Candra Hendarnoto, a researcher with the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), said here in the provincial capital.

Speaking at a press conference to announce the preliminary results of LSI’s quick count in the governorship race at the end of election day, Candra said Zaini Abdullah and his running mate, Muzakir Manaf, who are backed by the ruling Aceh Party, appeared to have the lead.

Aceh Police Chief Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan, speaking separately, said that in general, the elections for governor and deputy governor, as well as the heads and deputies for 17 districts and municipalities, “proceeded smoothly and securely.”

He said the only arrests were made just hours before polling stations across the province opened. One man was arrested in Pidie Jaya late on Sunday and three others were arrested in Lhokseumawe in the early hours of Monday.

“They tried to force residents to vote for a particular candidate,” Iskandar said.

“The police will not compromise with these intimidators who can harm the festival of democracy in Aceh,” he added.

Candra said Zaini and Muzakir had received 54 percent of the vote, according to the quick count, while the incumbent governor, Irwandi Yusuf, and his running mate, Muhyan Yunan, were a distant second with 29 percent.

In third place was the former deputy governor, Muhammad Nazar, and Nova Iriansyah with 7.77 percent. Two other pairs of candidates had less than 5 percent of the vote each.

Candra said the LSI quick count’s margin of error was about 1 percent.

The Indonesian Survey Institute, which shares the same Indonesian initials, LSI, said voter turnout was 74 percent.

Its quick count results were very close to those of the Indonesian Survey Circle. It had Zaini and Muzakir in the lead with 55 percent of the vote, followed by Irwandi and Muhyan at 28 percent and Nazar and Nova with just 7 percent.

Candra said Zaini and Muzakir benefitted from the support of the Aceh Party, which was established by former guerrillas of the now-outlawed Free Aceh Movement (GAM). They did very good in former GAM strongholds such as Pidie, Pidie Jaya, North Aceh, Lhokseumawe, East Aceh, Bireuen and Langsa.

Zaini is a former foreign minister of the GAM government in exile, while Muzakir is its former top military commander.

The simultaneous elections in Aceh weree the second since the ones in 2007, which followed the 2005 peace pact signed by GAM and the government.

Aceh Police’s Iskandar said a total of 8,776 police officers, reinforced by 1,730 members of the Armed Forces (TNI) and 20,200 civilian guards, provided security at 9,786 polling stations across the province.

Eliana, a housewife in Banda Aceh, said, “I hope that whoever is elected … can maintain the peace and bring progress and prosperity for Aceh. There should not be a return to conflict pitting Acehnese against each other, and those candidates who lose should accept their loss with an open heart.”

Eliana came to her polling station long before it was due to open at 8 a.m., but found there was already a long queue.

Irwandi told journalists after voting that he would abide by the official results of the elections and hoped that whoever won could safeguard the peace.

Muzakir, who cast his ballot in North Aceh, said he was optimistic the Aceh Party would win the elections.


(this from the JG)

April 11, 2012


Banda Aceh. Just a day after Monday’s largely peaceful elections, protests flared up in Aceh over allegations of cheating.

In Gayo Lues district, one of 13 districts and four cities where voters turned out to choose a leader, some 3,000 people loyal to district head candidates Irmawan and Abdul Karim pelted the local office of the Aceh Independent Elections Commission (KIP) with rocks on Tuesday night.

They demanded the vote counting stop, claiming massive vote buying and cheating by the camp of the incumbent district head, Ibnu Hasyim.

“They damaged the fence and shattered all the windows at the office,” Alfin Anhar, the Gayo Lues KIP head, said on Wednesday. “They also burned down one of our cars, and torched five other cars and several motorcycles parked nearby.”

He added that although there was a heavy police and military presence at the office, the officers failed to prevent the attack because of the sheer number of people in the mob.

No official figures are available for the vote count in Gayo Lues, but Ibnu, backed by a broad coalition of parties, is widely reported to be ahead in the count. Monday’s elections were also held to choose a governor for Aceh.

Iskandar, the coordinator behind Tuesday night’s attack, said the mob was disappointed with the KIP for continuing to count the votes despite what he called cheating by Ibnu’s camp.

“The election in Gayo Lues was marred by cheating, vote buying and intimidation by the [incumbent],” he said.

“We demand a new election in which Ibnu is disqualified.”

He did not elaborate on the cheating claims.

Similar accusations were raised in Central Aceh district on Tuesday afternoon, where hundreds of supporters of 10 candidates rallied outside the office of the incumbent, Nasaruddin.

Local polling monitors promised to look into the allegations against Nasaruddin, backed by the Democratic Party.

In North Aceh district, nine candidates voiced their rejection of local poll results because of “the widespread threats and intimidation” by supporters of Muhammad Thaib, the candidate from the Aceh Party.

Interim results give Thaib 64 percent of the vote, with the second-placed candidate far behind with just 7.5 percent.

In a joint statement, the nine candidates, including incumbent district head Ilyas A. Hamid, said they had been subjected to threats since long before the polls. These included attempted bombings at certain candidates’ homes, arson attacks on their campaign vehicles and threats via text message.

Observers from the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) said the text message threats had been reported to poll monitors in Pidie, Pidie Jaya, Bireuen, Lhokseumawe and North Aceh, but there had been no follow-up.

Damaso Magbual, the Anfrel chairman, said there were also several irregularities during polling day, including one incident in which a local legislator arrived at a polling station and told voters to pick a certain candidate.

He added that at another polling station, poll workers were seen entering polling booths and coaching the voters on which candidates to choose.


(x the JG)