Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Two foreign observers have been accredited by Aceh's Independent Election Commission (KIP) to monitor the upcoming Aceh vote.
The two are the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM).
ANFREL is the first Asian regional elections network. Based in Thailand, it works to promote the democratization process on national and regional levels in Asia.
"We hope the direct regional leadership elections in Aceh will be successful and transparent in order to establish democracy for the people of Aceh," said ANFREL Executive Director Somsri H. Ananuntasuk in Banda Aceh.
He added that ANFREL expected to learn about the voting process from the Acehnese, as well as ways to overcome election flaws.
ANFREL has sent a team of 11 people to Aceh, including members from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, Srilanka, Thailand the United States. They will be divided into six teams and spread across the province.
ANFREL will work with KIP, which has dispatched 120 poll workers to the voting stations.
The EU EOM had earlier sent 30 monitors, who were assigned throughout the mayoralties and regencies in the province.
"The poll watchers will be divided into 15 teams, with each team consisting of two members," said EU EOM spokesperson Indraneel Datta.
Each team will later monitor two areas until the end of voting.
Besides the 30 long-term poll watchers, the European Union will also dispatch another 45 members for the short-term monitoring team a few days ahead of the elections.
The European Union will send around people in total, from 22 countries. They will carry out their duties until Jan. 10, 2007.
KIP has classified the foreign election monitors into three groups – regular foreign monitors, diplomatic foreign monitors and supporting foreign monitors, each of which are distinguished by the identity cards issued by KIP.
In addition to the foreign election monitors, the polls will be watched by local election watchdogs accredited by KIP. They include the People's Election Education Network, which will observe polling stations across the province through 3,400 volunteers; the Aceh NGO Forum, comprising 500 members; and the Aceh International Recovery Program, which will monitor elections in nine mayoralties and regencies with 300 poll watchers.
The Aceh direct regional elections and the gubernatorial election will be held simultaneously in 19 mayoralties and regencies on Dec. 11.