T

he peaceful election in Aceh on Wednesday largely resulted from the smooth balloting process in Aceh Besar regency, the Aceh Party'€™s (PA) stronghold and where the party'€™s most influential figures hail from.

Aceh Besar has been a stronghold for the PA since the party was founded by former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) combatants in 2007.

In the 2009 election, the PA secured 10 of the 35 seats on the Aceh Besar Legislative Council (DPRD).

The party'€™s control over the regency also helped PA secretary-general Mukhlis Basyah to win election and become regent in 2012.

Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Djajuli said the regency had become vulnerable to security problems following a rift within the PA, which eventually led to the establishment of the Aceh National Party (PNA) in 2012.

'€œPA supporters perceived PNA members as traitors. We closely monitored both sides during the recent campaign period to prevent clashes between supporters of the two parties,'€ Djajuli said on Thursday in Jantho, Aceh Besar.

The PNA gained significant support in Lhoknga, in the western region of Aceh Besar. Meanwhile, the PA maintained its domination across most parts of the regency.

Members and supporters of both the PA and PNA are known to have been involved in a series of violent incidents in several parts of Aceh in the lead up to the legislative election.

Despite concerns of violent clashes between PA and PNA supporters on election day, the voting in Aceh Besar passed off smoothly on Wednesday.

'€œFrom what we witnessed during the balloting, it seems that the PA got slightly fewer votes compared to the last election. Fortunately, this has not sparked any clashes so far,'€ Djajuli said.

Aceh Besar has more than 246,000 eligible voters and 394 polling stations.

'€œAs of early Thursday, ballot boxes from 55 polling stations had been submitted to the District Polling Committee [PPK],'€ Djajuli added.

'€œWe will continue to provide security until all the ballot boxes have been transferred to the PPK,'€ he assured.

A few months prior to Wednesday'€™s legislative election, the PA formed an alliance with the Gerindra Party, which is led by the former Army'€™s Special Forces (Kopassus) commander, Prabowo Subianto.

A significant number of PA members rejected the coalition, considering the past battles between GAM fighters and the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Despite the discord, the coalition worked in Gerindra'€™s favor.

As of Thursday evening, early results showed that Gerindra came out on top for House of Representatives seats, with 16.7 percent of the vote.

Behind Gerindra, the Democratic Party gained 15.3 percent of votes, while the Nasdem Party secured 13.44 percent.