Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – In a show of force by the winners of the last local elections, tens of thousands of members of the Aceh Party descended on the provincial capital on Sunday in support of the party's candidates for the April 9 polls.

The party has been the dominant political force in Aceh since it was established after the 2005 peace deal that ended three decades of independence struggle in the province. It includes many of the former guerrillas from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who fought Jakarta.

Its gubernatorial candidate for the April 9 polls is a former GAM foreign minister, Zaini Abdullah. His running mate is the Aceh Party chairman, Muzakir Manaf, GAM's former armed forces commander.

"We stand before you to vow to develop Aceh in line with what was preached by his excellency, Hasan Tiro," Zaini said, referring to GAM's founder.

The Aceh Party won the 2009 elections with 47 percent of the vote. It now holds 33 of the 69 seats in the Aceh Legislative Council, and is a clear favorite to maintain its dominance, particularly at the district level.

Parties at both the local and national levels have jumped on the bandwagon, throwing their support behind Zaini and Muzakir.

The National Mandate Party (PAN), which won 7 percent of the vote nationwide in the 2009 elections, said it was officially supporting Zaini and Muzakir. "A leaders' meeting in Jakarta has decided to support the Aceh Party's candidates," said Anwar Ahmad, the chairman of PAN's Aceh branch.

A coalition of 18 small national and local parties, calling themselves the Cross Party Forum, also announced they would back Zaini and Muzakir.

The Aceh Party said it had also received the support of several top military figures, including Maj. Gen. (ret) Sunarko and Maj. Gen. (ret) Djali Yusuf. "God willing, they will advise us going forward," Muzakir said.

The elections will see people voting for governor, district heads and mayors. They were originally scheduled for Feb. 16 but were pushed back. The Aceh Party, which had threatened to boycott the polls if they were not postponed, registered its candidates with the Independent Election Commission Aceh (KIP Aceh) late last month.

While the party is expected to dominate voting in districts and cities, it may have trouble unseating Aceh's popular governor, Irwandi Yusuf. A former GAM official, Irwandi took office in 2006 with 39 percent of the vote on the Aceh Party ticket. But after a falling out, he decided to run for re-election as an independent.

That decision was at the heart of the dispute surrounding the polls, with the Aceh Party claiming that under the terms of the 2005 peace deal, independent gubernatorial candidates were only allowed in the 2006 elections.

The lead-up to the polls has been marred by a spate of unresolved shootings and firebombings that the House of Representatives in Jakarta has said are politically motivated.