Elections Update

The parliamentary election is gearing up, and a few posters and banners have cropped up around Dili. There have been more rallies at Democracy Field and the CNRT headquarters is buzzing. Here are a few notes on recent developments:

- Last Friday I went to see the parties sign a campaign code of conduct. All the party leaders (most of whom had stood in the presidential race) were there pressing flesh and chatting with each other. One representative had a cellphone with the ringer programmed to sound like a rooster, which, in retrospect, I would think would be a poor choice here - too many false alarms! The mood was upbeat, and at the end of the ceremony, the party presidents stood in a line, arms crossed, holding hands, and shouted out slogans for peace, respect and democracy.

- With opinion generally against the changes to the parliamentary elections law, I had hoped that the amendments (discussed 5/17) would be vetoed by President Ramos-Horta. It appears, however, that he signed them into law last night. The change to the counting procedures is only one of number of contraversial features of the amended law; time permitting, I will do a full breakdown.

- I tracked down a complete set of the final results. With parliamentary elections rapidly nearing, and the results from the second round elections so clear, there was little pressure on the National Electoral Commission (CNE) to release data on null, blank and contested votes. Those figures, however, are essential for gauging the effectiveness of voter education efforts and calculating the voter turnout rate. Here are the numbers:

Total Registered Voters: 522,933
Total Valid Votes: 379,159
Total Blank Votes: 7,380
Total Null Votes: 14,640
Total Votes Cast: 401,179

Voter Turnout Rate: 76.7%
Rate of Blank / Null Votes: 1.8% / 3.7%

It appears, in the end, that the voter turnout rate did decrease - a drop of roughly 5%. The good news is that the rates of blank and null votes also decreased, reflecting a simpler ballot in the second round and perhaps also an increased understanding among voters of the process.

- Finally, here are the fourteen entries on the ballot, two of which are coalitions:

# on Ballot; Acronym; Full Name (ENG); Leading Figure(s)

1 UNDERTIM; National Democratic Union for Timorese Resistance; Cornelio “L7” Gama

2 CNRT; National Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor; Xanana Gusmão, Agio Pereira

3 PR; Republican Party; Joao Saldanha

4 PDRT; Democratic Party of the Republic of Timor; Osorio Lequi

5 PDC; Christian Democratic Party; Antonio Ximenes

6 UDT; Timorese Democratic Union; Joao Carrascalao, Quiteria da Costa

7 PD; Democratic Party; Fernando “Lasama” Araujo, Mariano Sabino Lopes

8 PMD; Millennium Democratic Party; Ermenegildo Lopes

9 PST; Socialist Party of Timor; Avelino Coelho da Silva, Nelson Correia

10 ASDT/PSD Coalition; Timorese Association of Social Democrats / Social Democrat Party of East Timor; Xavier do Amaral / Mario Carrascalao, Zacarias Albano da Costa, Joao Goncalves

11 Democratic Alliance Coalition; Association of Timorese Heroes (KOTA) / People’s Party of Timor (PPT); Manuel Tilman / Jacob Xavier

12 FRETILIN; Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor; Francisco “Lu’Olo” Guterres, Mari Alkatiri

13 PNT; Timorese Nationalist Party; Alilio Araujo

14 PUN; National Unity Party; Fernanda Borges


Photo: Poll workers load ballot boxes into a truch to be transported from the polling center to the district tabulation center.