Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – Foreign monitors on Thursday reported to the local poll supervisory body (Panwaslih) a number of violations during Monday's landmark elections in Aceh.
Meanwhile, Irwandi Yusuf and running mate Muhammad Nazar continue to lead in the preliminary vote count for the gubernatorial election.
The European Union Election Observation Mission for Aceh reported cases of intimidation at 1.2 percent of 232 polling stations in Central Aceh, Pidie and Aceh Besar. The Asian Network For Free Elections (Anfrel) announced similar cases in Aceh Tamiang, as well as technical violations during the voting and money politics during campaigning.
Anfrel mission head Damaso Magbual said most voters who were targets of intimidation were reluctant to report the matter to the election supervisory agency.
"Eligible voters were asked by unidentified people to hand over their voter cards for unspecified reasons. However, they don't want their cases reported to the official election supervisory agency for further investigation," he said at a press conference here Thursday.
He said 11 Anfrel monitors deployed in 20 districts also found dozens of ballots in ballot boxes before voting began. He also said many ballots were declared invalid because people did not understand how to vote, while some polling station staff did not ensure ballots were correctly inserted in ballot boxes.
"There is a need for adequate voter education and civic education all over Aceh," Magbual said. Citing an example, he said many ballots for governor were inserted in ballot boxes meant for mayoral races.
He also called on the Aceh Independent Elections Committee (KIP Aceh) and the poll supervisory body to look into these cases to avoid similar problems in a possible second round of voting.
Magbual said communication problems hampered Anfrel staff in performing their work, and asked the official supervisory agency to investigate all complaints thoroughly.
EU Election Observation Mission chairman Glyn Ford also called on the poll supervisory body to look into the reported complaints and election violations. However, he said the complaints would not influence the final results of the elections.
Ford said his mission also found the official election supervisory agency was sometimes ineffective and slow to respond to complaints during the voting.
"Panwaslih had trouble during the election day and they were found to be less than cooperative and proactive in handling violations during the balloting day," he said.
Ford said the supervisory agency had received a total of 158 complaints, with 109 of them having been identified as administrative problems and 19 as election violations.
Meanwhile, as of Thursday evening the vote count by the Aceh Independent Elections Committee had former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Irwandi and his running mate still in the lead in the governor's race.
The pair had 26.17 percent of the 984,758 votes counted by the KIP. They are followed by Humam Hamid and running mate Hasbi Abdullah with 18.60 percent of the counted votes, down from 20.35 percent on Wednesday. Trailing close behind in third is Golkar Party candidate Malek Raden and running mate Sayed Fuad Zakaria with 18.11 percent.
The KIP has yet to receive ballot boxes from Sabang, North Aceh, Aceh Jaya, Bireuen, East Aceh and Langsa. GAM candidates are expected to do well in these areas.