Arientha Primanita – The National Police chief said on Wednesday four men had been arrested over attacks on polling stations in Papua's Yapen Waropen and Timika districts on the eve of Wednesday's presidential election.

"We have arrested four people in relation to the attacks," Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said. "We also confiscated weapons and ammunition during the arrests."

Bambang said the attack in Timika late on Tuesday involved the use of arrows and sharp weapons but the local police were able to handle the situation.

He said that in Yapen Waropen, the attackers were caught after a short chase by police. Bambang added that an outlawed Morning Star separatist flag was found at the location of the arrest.

He said officers exchanged gunfire with the attackers as they attempted to cause a disturbance at a polling station, but he declined to give the exact location of the incident.

Bambang said there were no other reports of poll-related violence from regional police commands around the country. "From the reports from all the regional police chiefs, the situation is safe and under control," he said. "The voting process also went smoothly."

Violence marred the run-up to April's legislative elections in Papua, with five people dying in a string of attacks. The incidents included an attack by more than a hundred people in Abepura, near Papua's capital Jayapura, in which one person was killed, and a blast at the Pertamina oil depot in Biak that also left one dead. Three people were killed in an attack by unknown assailants in Wamena district.

Bambang said the government suspected certain groups were trying to scuttle the elections, though he did not name the groups.

Papua has long been home to a low-level separatist campaign, but pro-independence sentiment has risen in the past few years due to perceptions of socioeconomic injustice and abuses of power and violence by security forces stationed in the country's easternmost province.