The Jakarta Globe
Friday, May 1, 2009

by Nurdin Hasan

Banda Aceh: The announcement on Thursday of official results from the April 9 election in Aceh produced no surprises, with the local Aceh Party walking away with the majority of seats in the provincial legislative council, as had been expected.

The final results, which were announced by the Aceh Independent Election Commission, or KIP, after it finished counting votes from the province’s 23 districts and municipalities, showed the Aceh Party had secured 33 of the 69 seats in the provincial council.

From a total of 2,146,141 valid ballots, the Aceh Party received 1,007,173 votes, or 46.93 percent. Trailing in a distant second was the Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which had 232,728 votes, or 10.84 percent, followed by Golkar Party with 142,411 votes, or 6.64 percent. The National Mandate Party, or PAN, finished fourth with 93,060 votes, or 3.87 percent, while the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, received 81,529 votes, or 3.80 percent.

While it scored an overwhelming victory, the Aceh Party’s own projections showed it gaining more votes. Aceh Party spokesman Adnan Beuransyah had earlier estimated that his party would clinch 36 seats in the provincial legislative council.

“After the counting was completed, the Aceh Party apparently received fewer votes than other parties in several electoral areas,” Adnan said.

The Democratic Party secured 10 seats in the provincial council, Golkar eight, PAN five, PKS four and the United Development Party, or PPP, three.

The remaining seats were split between the Aceh Mandate Party, or PDA, another local party, and several national parties.

The April 9 legislative elections were the first to be held following the truce signed by the government and the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, in 2005. Under the deal, Aceh is the only province in the country allowed to have locally-based political parties.

Six local parties competed with 37 national parties in the elections in the province, although only two of the local parties managed to get seats in the legislature — the Aceh Party and the Aceh Mandate Party.

The Aceh Party, founded by former GAM guerrillas, secured most of its support in former strongholds of the group, in the north and east of the province.

A member of KIP, Akmal Abzal, said that his commission would hold another plenary meeting before May 17, after the completion of the vote count from Aceh for the House of Representatives in Jakarta by the General Elections Commission, or KPU.