Aceh Party

The Aceh Party (Indonesian: Partai Aceh, Acehnese: Peurté Acèh) is a regional political party in Indonesia. It contested the 2009 elections in the province of Aceh, and is the largest party in the Aceh provincial legislature.^[1][2]

Aceh Party Partai Aceh Peurté Acèh
Chairman	Muzakir Manaf
Secretary-General	Kamaruddin Abubakar
Founded	7 June 2007
Headquarters	Banda Aceh
Ideology	Aceh nationalism Aceh regionalism
Political position	Right-wing
National affiliation	Advanced Indonesia Coalition
Ballot number	21
DPRD I seats	20 / 81
DPRD II seats	116 / 665
Website
www.partaiaceh.org
Politics of Indonesia Political parties Elections

History

The Aceh Party was formerly known as GAM Party (Partai GAM) after the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), a separatist group that waged a war for Aceh independence from 1976 to 2005. Many of the party's leaders were senior figures in GAM, including its chairman Muzakir Manaf, who was a former commander of GAM's military wing.

2009 elections

The party stood in the 2009 elections in Aceh, and was predicted to win in at least 15 of Aceh's 21 regencies. The party set a target of 70% of the Aceh vote. During the election campaign, party buildings and vehicles were attacked, including the use of grenades and bombs. Shots were fired at party members. On several occasions, Indonesian Armed Forces personnel lowered Aceh Party flags.^[3][4]

The party won 46.91% of the votes in the province, by far the largest share, beating both local and national parties. This was enough to give it 33 of the 69 seats in the provincial legislature.^[5][6]

2012 election

Zaini Abdullah of the Aceh Party was elected with 55.9% of the vote in the Acehnese gubernatorial election of 2012.^[7]

2014 elections

The party contested the 2014 legislative elections, again only in Aceh. Despite optimistically claiming it would win 60 to 70% of the Acehnese vote during the election campaign, its vote fell sharply to 35.3 percent, although this was enough for a plurality. One reason for the drop in its vote was the internal party conflict that had raged since February 2011, which led to several Aceh Party members to leave to establish the Aceh National Party. The Aceh Party won 29 of the 81 seats in the provincial legislature.^[8]

References

1. Hillman, Ben (2012). "'Power Sharing and Political Party Engineering in Conflict-Prone Societies: The Indonesian Experiment in Aceh". Conflict Security and Development. 12 (2): 149–169. doi:10.1080/14678802.2012.688291. S2CID 154463777.
2. Simanjuntak, Hotli (18 August 2008). "Finally, Aceh local parties to take part in general election". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 2017-05-27.
3. International Crisis Group Update (2008) Briefing Asia Briefing N°81, Jakarta/Brussels, 9 September 2008 Indonesia: Pre-Election Anxieties in Aceh Archived 10 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
4. Tempo magazine No. 0931/March 31-April 06, 2009, pp46-47
5. Nainggolan, Bestian; Wahyu, Yohan (2016). Partai Politik Indonesia 1999-2019 (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Kompas Media Nusantara. pp. 226–227. ISBN 978-602-412-005-4.
6. Partai Aceh dan Demokrat Kuasai Kursi DPRA dan DPR Archived January 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Media Indonesia Online. 05/04/2009.
7. "IFES - UPDATED - Elections in Aceh: Another Step Forward". 2012-10-16. Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
8. Nainggolan, Bestian; Wahyu, Yohan (2016). Partai Politik Indonesia 1999-2019 (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Kompas Media Nusantara. pp. 229–230. ISBN 978-602-412-005-4.