 He was accused of being a traitor to the Free Aceh Movement, the Acehnese militia, because of his negotiations and compromises with the Indonesian government.Irwandi's own governorship campaign in 2006 had been as an independent candidate, not with his former rebel comrades, a fact exploited by the Aceh Party (PA) during the 2012 election campaign to sway popular opinion in their direction.Irwandi stated that the PA's propaganda implying that he betrayed the Free Aceh Movement was the cause of the attack by party supporters.