Coming together with family and relatives who were voting, people packed the polling stations to elect their governor/deputy governor, district heads/deputy district heads, and mayors/deputy mayors.
Aceh province is made up of 17 districts and five municipalities.
From the provincial city of Banda Aceh, ANTARA News reported that amidst tight security, thousands of people from every corner of the city went to the polling stations.
Additionally, streets in Banda Aceh and other cities in the province were filled with people on Monday morning, many enthusiastically heading for the polling stations to vote for their future leaders.
"Without coercion or intimidation by any parties, we came early to the polling station with our conscience to elect our future leaders," said Feri, a voter in Banda Aceh, on Monday morning.
The simultaneous elections in Aceh Province were also peaceful, as had been expected by all parties.
It was obviously the result of all candidates for governor and deputy governor, district heads and deputy district heads, and mayors and deputy mayors who came together in Banda Aceh on March 14, 2012 to jointly declare that regional elections should be conducted without violence.
Regarding that declaration, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto spoke assuredly in Banda Aceh, saying the regional elections in the province would be truly peaceful.
"The presence of all prospective governor/deputy governor as well as district heads and deputy district heads issuing this joint declaration will ensure peaceful and successful regional elections in Aceh," Djoko said.
He noted that their presence to jointly declare the need to hold peaceful elections in the province was extraordinary.
Commenting on several bloody incidents in the province before the regional elections, the security minister said, "Let us forget it and face a better future for Aceh because the police and security official will enforce the law."
Meanwhile, National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo also expressed hope that the declaration would be a joint commitment to realizing peaceful and successful elections in Aceh Province.
Timur said the declaration was not simply a ceremonial activity, but had been truly implemented during the elections.
According to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) spokesman Ifdhal Kasim, some 12 serious acts of violence involving firearms and explosives occurred throughout the province during the past few years.
Therefore, the Komnas Ham was seeking action by the government to put an end to repeated acts of violence in Aceh Province prior to the election.
In Banda Aceh, Ifdhal Kasim said on Sunday that Komnas Ham would send four teams to monitor voting throughout the day in Aceh.
"Komnas HAM will field four teams to monitor polls in 10 districts and municipalities," Komnas HAM Chief Ifdhal Kasim said, adding that the first team would monitor elections in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar, the second team in Pidie, Lhokseumawe, Bireuen, and North Aceh districts, the third team in Central Aceh district, and the fourth team in Aceh Jaya and West Aceh districts.
Besides monitoring voting, the rights body would also record the number of voters in the voters` registers who do, or do not, vote, he said.
He added that the right to vote was a basic right of every citizen that the state must guarantee in accordance with the 1945 Constitution, Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights, Law No. 12/2005 on Ratification of Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
The National Commission on Human Rights spokesman also asked the Aceh provincial government to play its part in ensuring that elections are held without any problems and guarantee the rights of the local community.
Meanwhile, Aceh Police Chief General Iskandar Hasan in Banda Aceh early in March also acknowledged the heightening of the political climate in the province before the elections, but he called on local public figures and members of the political elite to jointly bring the political atmosphere under control.
Iskandar noted that violent and criminal cases in several areas in the province in the past few weeks were still being investigated, but the police had yet to find witnesses and collect evidence from those cases.
"We have yet to gather witnesses and evidence from those criminal cases and, therefore, the local people who happen to see such incidents should have courage to report to the police as soon as possible," Iskandar said.
But he added that the security condition in the province would remain peaceful during the simultaneous regional elections on April 9, 2012.
"There is no problem. Although the political climate is heating up, the security situation, in general, is under control and conducive for regional elections," Iskandar noted.
Further, acting Aceh Governor Tarmizi A. Karim said the local population was in an urgent need of being reassured before the upcoming elections.
"All people of Aceh are in need of psychological comfort, peace, and security before the elections," Tarmizi recently told the candidates for governor and deputy governor at a meeting in Banda Aceh.
He said the pairs of governor and deputy governor candidates in the regional elections met as often as possible to unite their joint efforts to seek peace and security ahead of the elections.
Tarmizi also expressed hope that the successful team for each pair of governor and deputy governor would work together with the local government to assure that the local population was free from fear and intimidation.
"A peaceful election can only be created if the people feel free to sincerely elect whoever they want to elect without pressure and intimidation," Tarmizi noted.
He asserted that the local government and civil servants have had a strong commitment to being neutral throughout the elections.
(Uu.O001/INE/KR-BSR/O001)
Reporter: by Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
