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Thursday, April 24, 2014

PA intimidation at the polls: opposing party sour grapes, or the unfortunate truth?


I love an overview. And IPAC, the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, has come up with a corker: “Aceh’s Elections: A Do-it-yourself Analysis,” published on March 31, 2014.

If you’re still confused about who’s who, this document should help.

Granted, it’s a little like closing the barn door after the water buffalo has left, but reading this document in the context of what we know, or what is being reported, about election violence and fraud in certain dapil (voting districts), the not-yet-finalized reality is bearing out the assumptions made in the report. (National election results will be final May 9th.)

Plus, there is a handy fill-in-the-blank monitoring chart in the Appendix that lets you “compare the 2014 results to the legislative elections in 2009 and the gubernatorial election in 2012 in terms of the strength of Partai Aceh in each district.”

Yesterday I posted a press release from PNA outlining abuses and election fraud committed by Partai Aceh/PA [who are being courted by the Gerinda Party for support in the July presidential election]. Wanting to get both sides of the story, I went searching for similar reports, interviews or public statements made by PA members regarding their PNA opposition.  I could find very little.  People in Aceh also told me that it was common knowledge  that it was PA who “controlled” the elections (and the province) and they were doing everything they could to keep it that way, from intimidation to voter interference.  One citizen told me, “Everyone saw what was happening during the election with Partai Aceh, but nobody wanted to report it because of fear and the safety of themselves and their families. In some districts the number of abstentions was increased too. My personal opinion, this election is worse than last election period in Aceh. Fraud and intimidation was marked by PA.” 

This combined with the Probowa/Sharia love-fest does not bode well for the province. 

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