Aceh Local Political Party: The rise, victory, and decline

Abstract

Local political parties are one of the important mandates of the MoU Helsinki, which once became the realization of Aceh's peace. Their presence has significantly contributed to the development of post-conflict Aceh, and their victories in multiple Aceh political contests have guided Aceh's peace journey for the past seventeen years. However, the last election in Aceh in 2019 showed that the local political parties were starting to lose their power and become more powerless. Therefore, this study aims to describe the dynamics of local parties in Aceh, especially in relation to their rises, victories, and signs of decline. This study uses a qualitative method with a descriptive model. The data in this study were obtained from an in-depth interview and relevant literature review and then analyzed with an interactive model. This study shows, first, that the rise of local political parties in Aceh relates to and is inseparable from the context of peace post-MoU, which provided access for ex-GAM and the Acehnese community to form local political parties. Second, the strengthening of Acehnese ethnonationalism in post-conflict was able to be represented by local parties in various social and cultural symbols, which made them trusted by the Acehnese and led to victory in the election. Third, the decline of the local parties' power in the 2019 election is closely related to the failure of political actors to realize their promises while in power and the occurrence of various internal conflicts in their party organizations, which dropped community trust. At the same time, the local parties failed to pass on Acehnese ethnonationalism to the younger generation, and as a result, they are likely to lose voters.