Chairman Muzakkir Manaf Founded 7 June 2007 DPR Seats 0 | Secretary-General Muhammad Yahya Headquarters Banda Aceh | |
The Aceh Party (Indonesian: Partai Aceh) is a regional political party in Indonesia. It contested the 2009 elections in the province of Aceh, and is the largest party in the Aceh provincial legislature
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Background
The Aceh Party was formerly known as GAM Party (Partai GAM) after the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the separatist group that fought for independence for the province. Many of its leaders were senior figures in the movement, and its chairman is the former commander of GAM's military wing.
2009 elections
The party stood in the 2009 elections in Aceh, and was expected to be "the party to beat" as it was predicted to win in at least 15 of Aceh's 21 regencies. The party itself set a target of 70% of the Aceh vote. During the election campaign, there were attacks on party buildings and vehicles, including the use of grenades and bombings. Shots were also fired at party members. On several occasions, Indonesian Armed Forces personnel lowered Aceh Party flags.
Ther party won 46.91% of the votes in the province, by far the largest share, beating both local and national parties. This was enough to give it 33 of the 69 seats in the provincial legislature.
The Aceh Party's candidate for the gubernatorial election in Aceh, Zaini Abdullah, was elected with a comfortable majority in the election held in 2012.
2014 elections
The party contested the 2014 elections, again only in Aceh. Despite optimistically claiming it would win 60-70% of the vote during the election campaign, its vote fell sharply to 35.3 percent, although this was still the largest share. One reason for the drop in its vote was the internal conflict that had raged in the party since February 2011, which led to several Aceh Party members leaving to establish the Aceh National Party. The Aceh Party won 29 of the 100 seats in the provincial legislature.