Jakarta – Election watchdog Aceh Elections Observer Coalition (KPPA) says it found 19 alleged violations during the election of regional heads in 16 areas across Aceh from Feb. 14 to Feb. 15.
KPPA spokesperson Aryos Nivada said Bireun and Pidie regencies had the highest number of violations, recording four cases each.
Three violations were found in Aceh Besar while East Aceh recorded two cases. Meanwhile, six other areas, Banda Aceh, Langsa, Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, Pidie Jaya and West Aceh, recorded one case each.
"Monitoring was conducted in 16 regencies and municipalities considered vulnerable to fraud and election violations. They were also among the areas most prone to security threats," said Aryos as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.
Aryos said not all polling stations could be monitored because of limited personnel and funds. Among violations found were bomb threats ahead of the elections, intimidation of political rivals, local polling administrators (KPPS) attempting to influence voters, vote-buying, double voting and KPPS found to have not distributed C6 forms (invitations to vote).
"Vote-buying attempts were suspected in Deah Ujong Baroh village, Trienggadeng district, Pidie Jaya regency, at 12:57 a.m. local time on Feb.15. At that time, several cars entered villages and visited campaign team members of the Aceh governor and deputy governor candidate pair number 5," said Aryos, referring to candidate pair Muzakir Manaf-TA Khalid.
The KPPA said it would report its findings to the Aceh Voters Supervisory Committee (Panwaslih) and called on the Integrated Law Enforcement Center (Gakkumdu), especially the police, to follow up on the reports. (ebf)