Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Dozens of people claiming to be victims of the conflict in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam rallied in front of the Independent Commission for Elections in Banda Aceh

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Banda Aceh – A second electoral worker has been abducted since the start last weekend of campaigning for milestone elections in Indonesia's Aceh province, police said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Local elections in Indonesia's Aceh province pose a challenge for former separatist rebels in their transformation from an armed insurgency into a political movement, the Inte

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Infighting ahead of the coming landmark Dec.

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

Campaigning has begun for next month's long-awaited elections in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Jakarta/Surabaya – Two new political parties, linked to the country's two biggest Muslim organizations – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, are expected to contest the 2009 presiden

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Campaigning for the landmark Dec.

M.

Nani Afrida, Aceh Jaya – It was once too dangerous to dine out in Aceh Jaya's Tuwe village, a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) stronghold and the scene of frequent fighting between guerr

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Two foreign observers have been accredited by Aceh's Independent Election Commission (KIP) to monitor the upcoming Aceh vote.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Golkar Party's demand last week for a Cabinet reshuffle to enable it to place more party members in senior positions has not impressed political analys

J. Osdar – Indonesian journalists roared with laughter when they witnessed the general elections or great election in the Malaysian state of Sabah in 1985.

Banda Aceh – All eight pairs of candidates for the governorship and vice-governorship of Aceh on Tuesday vowed to work for peaceful elections in December.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Expectations are high while the possibilities for violence are likely slim in the scheduled December elections in Aceh.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh needs at least 10,000 election observers to help ensure just and democratic regional polls in Aceh on Dec.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Eight pairs of candidates are eligible to contest Aceh's Dec. 11 gubernatorial elections, the Aceh Independent Elections Commission declared Monday.

Banda Aceh – A former Indonesian general and a separatist rebel are among eight candidates running for governor in the once-volatile province of Aceh next month, an election official sa

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh's first-ever direct elections are scheduled for December, yet many eligible voters may be unable to cast ballots because they have not registered.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Nani Afrida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The European Union election monitoring mission is upbeat Aceh's first direct elections, scheduled for December, will proceed pea

Banda Aceh – An eight-person team from the European Union has begun monitoring work ahead of elections in Indonesia's Aceh province, the head of the monitoring mission said Tuesday.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The future of political Islam remains bleak in Indonesia, with fewer than one in 10 Muslims saying they would still vote for Islamic parties in the next election

James Balowski, Jakarta – Although still three years away, citing the need to prevent Indonesia's 2009 general elections from becoming "overly fragmented" by a plethora of new political

Jakarta – New political parties continue to surface.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Former rebels may lose upcoming direct elections in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam because they have split into two rival groups, analysts say.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An Acehnese woman is fighting to contest this year's direct gubernatorial election, saying the local poll body unfairly declared her unable to read the Kor

Jakarta – Election officials in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province have ordered that potential candidates for upcoming provincial polls must be able to recite from the Koran, Islam's

Jakarta – The challenge of staging polls in Indonesia's Aceh this year should not derail a peace pact signed in 2005 between separatists and the government, an analyst said Thursday.

Jakarta – Peace in Indonesia's once-restive Aceh province should hold even if former separatist rebels running in December's local elections fail to win any posts, analysts said on Thur

Sutarto, Jakarta – Sidney Jones, President Director of the International Crisis Group for Southeast Asia, estimates that regional leaders' election in Aceh will be safe.

Paul Alexander, United Nations – East Timor needs fair elections, reconciliation and a big injection of international aid to overcome the recent violence that battered the fledgling nat

Ramdhan Muhaimin, Jakarta – Although the 2009 general elections are still three years away, 27 seven new political parties have already registered with the department of Justice and Hum

Jakarta – Politicians from different political parties are supporting a move to allow Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel to exercise their voting rights in the 2009 legislative and pre

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major and minor parties are at loggerheads over whether an electoral threshold should be set for parties running in the legislative and presidential races

The Declaration of The preparatory committee of National Liberation party of Unity (KP-Papernas) at the East Java Branch on Sunday (17/09) was intimidated by the militia group, called t

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Leaders of small political parties are fiercely objecting to a plan to increase the electoral threshold from 3 percent to 5 percent.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader Hasyim Muzadi said Sunday that the central board of the country's largest Muslim organization would not give its blessings to a new political party that seni

Lindsay Murdoch in Dili and agencies – East Timor's Prime Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has warned that voters' hostility towards the ruling Fretilin party could make his country difficul

Gagah Wijoseno, Jakarta – A variety of political party flags adorn the site of the fire in the Penjaringan area of North Jakarta.

Kediri, East Java – Senior ulemas opposed to the leadership of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in the divided National Awakening Party (PKB) are vowing to start a new polit

Dili – Intra-mural opponents of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's continued leadership of East Timor's dominant FRETILIN party said Monday they hope to convene an extraordinary cong

Mark Dodd – East Timor's highest court has declared legal the controversial "show of hands" vote that endorsed the leadership of then prime minister Mari Alkatiri at a national party co

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia plans to hold the first direct elections in once-volatile Aceh province by December 10, a government minister said on Thursday.

Windoro Adi – It was just like the good old days when on the afternoon of Friday July 28, RMH Heroe Syswanto NS Soerio Soebagio, who is affectionately called Sys NS, appeared once again

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked foreign monitors in Aceh to stay on through the province's crucial elections, planned for later this year, a spokeswoman said Wedn

Max Lane, Jakarta – On July 23, 1500 people attended a rally at the National Library of Indonesia to publicly launch a new political party – the Preparatory Committee of the National Li

Jakarta – Economist Faisal Basri and former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmaja have both said they will firmly oppose any sharia-based ordinances in the capital city should they

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – If one thought that regional elections would produce a more accurate map of the strengths and ideological leanings of political parties, think again

Suherdjoko and Ridwan M.