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PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240307Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2190
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0115
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 013282 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
SENSITIVE 
 
Dept for EAP/MTS 
NSC for Holly Morrow 
 
From American Consulate Medan # 31, 2006 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV AS ID
SUBJECT: Aceh: Election Update 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Aceh will hold provincial elections on 
December 11, the province's first since the signing of the 
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government and 
pro-independence forces in Helsinki in 2005.  According to 
the election rules, candidates must receive more than 25 
percent of the vote to win outright. Because of the large 
number of candidates running for governor, a runoff election 
will likely be necessary.  Aceh's geography, poor 
infrastructure, and level of development pose significant 
logistical challenges, and some election regulations lack 
the specificity needed to enforce them effectively.  The 
U.S. is providing substantial assistance to ensure that the 
elections are free, fair, and successfully conducted. End 
Summary. 
 
Election Schedule 
----------------- 
¶2. (U) On December 11, Aceh will hold elections for Governor 
and Vice Governor, Mayor and Vice Mayor of Banda Aceh and 
Lhokseumawe, and Head and Deputy Head of every District 
except Bireuen and Aceh Selatan. 
 
¶3. (U) After the voting has been completed, Aceh will 
tabulate the votes in a multi-level process which may take 
several weeks.  On election day, each polling station will 
tabulate its own results.  The following day, they are 
scheduled to send their ballot boxes and counts to a sub- 
district office which will re-tabulate the votes.  The sub- 
districts have five days to complete their count and deliver 
the ballots and results to the district level, which then 
has five days to verify and audit the results before 
submitting them to the provincial election commission. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Because of this time consuming process, tabulation 
and verification is not scheduled to be completed until 
January 1 - nearly 3 weeks after the election.  Several 
district KIP offices have told us that, despite the 
protracted schedule, they intend to complete their official 
tallies between 48 and 72 hours after the election. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Many observers identify the layered and time 
consuming approach to tabulation as a significant weakness 
in the electoral process because it offers multiple 
opportunities to manipulate the outcome.  Election officials 
acknowledge this, but believe that it can be managed by the 
Election Supervisory Committee, which is assigning more than 
600 monitors to oversee the election. Several district KIP 
offices have devised special procedures whereby they will 
collect vote count data directly from polling stations to 
prevent sub-district level offices from manipulating the 
election. 
 
Picking the Winner 
------------------ 
¶6. (U) Under the election law, a candidate must receive more 
than 25 percent of the vote to win.  Because of the number 
of candidates contesting the election, it is likely that no 
candidate will obtain 25 percent in the first round, 
necessitating a runoff between the top two candidates 90 
days after the first round. 
 
Independent Candidates 
---------------------- 
¶7. (U) Many of the candidates in these elections are running 
as independents, a privilege accorded to the province 
according to the terms of the Helsinki Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) and implemented in the new law governing 
Aceh. Elsewhere in Indonesia, candidates must be sponsored 
by a national political party. 
 
¶8. (U) Independent candidates are competing in every 
election; slightly less than half of them are informal GAM 
candidates. In at least one district, Bener Meriah, the 
former head of an anti-independence militia is running as an 
independent against a former GAM commander who is also 
running as an independent. At the province level, three of 
eight pairs of candidates are independent, including both 
Irwandi Yusuf from GAM and former TNI Commander for Aceh, 
Gen. Djali Yusuf. 
 
JAKARTA 00013282  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Logistical and Regulatory Challenges 
------------------------------------ 
¶9. (SBU) Logistical challenges are the most significant 
obstacle officials face in this election.  They point out 
that 2.6 million voters will cast their ballots in more than 
8,500 polling stations throughout the province.  Many of the 
polling stations are located in remote villages with limited 
communications and transportation infrastructure. 
Privately, province-level KIP officials worry that mistakes 
will inevitably be made and some polling stations may not 
receive voting materials on time. Lower level KIP offices 
are more optimistic that they can overcome these challenges. 
 
¶10. (SBU) In addition, the Chief of Provincial Election 
Supervisory Body has complained that he lacks the tools to 
enforce election regulations because the law does not 
stipulate punishments for violations. Many candidates, for 
example, have posted campaign materials in contravention of 
the regulations, but it is not clear what sanctions, if any, 
should be applied. Should a party attempt to intimidate 
voters or engage in blatant vote buying - problems which he 
believes are inevitable - he has, he said, no way to punish 
violators. 
 
U.S. Assistance to the Electoral Process 
---------------------------------------- 
¶11. (U) The United States is providing approximately $2 
million for election support, including USAID-funded 
programs to strengthen election management, voter education, 
and election integrity.  USG assistance has supported an 
audit of voter registration throughout the province and is 
facilitating the training of 35,000 Indonesian election 
monitors and 10,000 poll workers. The Embassy will also send 
approximately 35 staff members to monitor the election. 
Several organizations, including the European Union, have 
announced that they will field election monitoring teams as 
well. 
PASCOE