Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has taken a neutral stance toward all candidates in the first gubernatorial election in Aceh, following a controversy over whether it was supporting certain candidates.

"The central and regional branches of the Aceh transition committee (KPA) will be nonpartisan in the elections," said the former commander of the military wing of GAM, Muzakkir Manaf, on Monday.

Tension had been brewing over signs that GAM leaders were supporting either the ticket of rights activist Humam Hamid and Hasbi Abdullah, or the pairing of GAM executive Irwandi Yusuf and Muhammad Nazar.

The first-ever direct election in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam is scheduled for Dec. 11, following the signing of a landmark peace deal between GAM and the Indonesian government in Helsinki, Finland, last year.

Muzakir's statement annulled his earlier declaration of support for Humam and Hasbi, GAM leaders told a press conference. The leaders included Bachtiar Abdullah, spokesman of GAM in Sweden, where a number of leaders are in self-exile, and Nur Djuli, an executive of GAM in Malaysia. "We will accept and support whoever wins the polls democratically," Muzakkir said.

Sofyan Dawood, a spokesman for the Committee's central board, said the decision to remain nonpartisan was actually made last May by the organization's leadership. "The decision at that time was that GAM would support any of its cadres who were joining the race," Sofyan said.

Therefore executives of the Committee at all levels were barred from supporting any one candidate, he added. "The word used to be that Muzakkir supported Humam and I supported Irwandi, which is not the case," he said.

Eight pairs of candidates are running in the race, which is being monitored by the European Union as part of the international effort to facilitate peace in Aceh.