Indonesia's ex-rebel leader sweeps poll

Banda Aceh: A former rebel leader swept to victory in landmark elections in Aceh province one year after a peace deal ended a decades-long civil war that claimed 15,000 lives, pollsters said yesterday.

The Indonesian government said it would respect the outcome of the vote in the province, which was the worst-hit region in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. Election monitors said the vote was free and fair.

Irwandi Yousuf, a senior member of the rebel's political wing who was in jail on treason charges when the tsunami struck, received about 38 per cent of the vote for governor, while the second-place candidate polled roughly 16 per cent, according to local pollsters Jurdil Aceh and the Indonesian Survey Circle.

Both polls counted a representative sample of votes cast across the province and had a margin of error of 1 to 2 percentage points. Similar "quick counts" accurately forecast the result of national elections in Indonesia in 2004 and other local votes, but official results will not be released until January 2.

The chief of the Indonesian military, which waged a campaign against the rebels before the deal was signed in August 2005, said the result was "not a victory for the former rebels, [but] a victory for the Acehnese people".

The latest conflict began in 1976 and ended with the signing of the peace agreement in Helsinki, Finland, that helped the smooth handover of rebel weapons.