Election Day (Updated)

I have come to see elections as a long, technical process, one which begins with the laws and logistical preparations, peaks on voting day, and then only finishes when the final numbers are announced. The cliché is that an election is marathon, not a sprint.

This idea seems to have sunk in around my office, and perhaps more widely. The (perceived) insouciant attitude of Timorese administrators in the run-up to the election had some ex-pat colleagues working on the elections worried. “Where is the panic?” one asked.

The somewhat manic excitement that I felt with the first round has mellowed – a combination of my increasing understanding of the process and perhaps ennui among Dili voters. Even the National Electoral Commission (CNE) is taking it slow; it cancelled all scheduled press conferences and replaced charming, though unpredictable, Fr. Martinho (he was criticized for too often speaking off the cuff), with the CNE’s representative from FONGTIL. At today’s press conference she did well.

For the election, we again started early, leaving the compound around 6:40 AM, making it to the neighborhood primary school to watch the polls open. People were queued outside of the school grounds, and when the word was given they walked, then sprinted, to line up outside the polling station. The laughing, enthusiastic rush (old ladies lifted the hems their skirts to run) belied the comparatively low turnout at that station. A colleague who had been observed there before estimated that in the first round, at the opening, the line had been at least four times as long.

The possible reasons for a drop in turnout are manifold. Over half the voters are choosing between candidates that they did not vote for the first round; intimidation; negative experiences in the first round, etc. International media reports often used the willingness of the Timorese people to wait for hours in the hot sun as evidence of their commitment to democracy – ironically, these long waits may be one reason that voters stayed home. Reports from polling stations across Timor Leste indicated that the majority of voting was completed before noon.

Contrary to this largely anecdotal evidence on voter participation, STAE stated in its press release (19:00, 09.05.07) that it expected the turnout to remain around 82%. A rough voter turnout rate should be available next week.


I spent most of the day bringing margarine-smeared donuts to co-workers observing on behalf of the Coalition for Monitoring the General Elections (KOMEG, an impressive coalition of 19 organizations fielding over 1,000 local observers – more than half of the national total) and zipping over to KOMEG’s headquarters to translate press statements. They have been concerned in particular by instances of observers being barred from entering the polling stations. I will continue to work with KOMEG through the elections, particularly to crunch the fascinating data from the thousands of observer checklists.

We checked out five polling centers, most on Comoro Road, and found that despite some concern over loitering youths the process had gone smoothly. Even in the two cases in which UNPOL called in the Malaysian formed police unit, in riot gear, to move the onlookers away from the polling stations, people were compliant. The UN reported that the election "has been free of any serious incidents of violence and intimidation" (09.05.07). However, according to the CNE’s press statement (11:30, 10.05.07) there was violence in Urahoau-Ermera.

Additionally, the CNE reported that 84 ballots, which were already marked for Lu’Olo, were given to voters. These fraudulent ballots were cancelled.

The counting process in the places were I observed also went smoothly and concluded before dark – a significant improvement and accomplishment. Dili came in strongly for Ramos-Horta in the first round, and he again put up strong numbers, even taking a polling station in Becora by 1,259 to Lu’Olo’s 71. CNE has indicated that by midnight Aileu had completed the district tabulation, with the provisional result of 1,065 for Lu'Olo, 15,984 Ramos-Horta.* Oecusse and Bobonaro were also more than half done with their tabulations at that time.

More numbers will start rolling in very soon (More graphs! More spreadsheets!) and so far it appears that finalizing the results will be quicker and cleaner than in April.

Photos: Top and bottom - Low attendance at the Fatuhada polling station. Middle - Voter rush to get into line at Escola Sina; international observer looking on.

* These provisional results suggest 16,987 valid votes, a drop of 1,151 valid votes or 7%.