Four groups of international observers and eight East Timorese organizations have already registered with Dili electoral officials to monitor the territory's first free vote on August 30.

According to figures obtained by Lusa Friday, the four foreign organizations, including the Atlanta-based Carter Center, will field 45 observers, while the eight local organizations have almost 400. Among the international teams, the Asian Network for Free Elections includes representatives from 10 countries.

The Carter Center, founded and led by former US President Jimmy Carter, has already deployed eight "long-term observers" to monitor the campaign underway peacefully for the the [sic] August 30 constituent assembly balloting, which is contested by 16 parties and several independents.

In a related development, about 90 differ[e]nt kinds of campaign materials, manufactured in Australia and provided the parties by Dili's UN transition administration, are expected to arrive from Darwin next week. The propaganda materials include banners, flags, posters, leaflets, decals and T-shirts, among other things.

The varied campaign aid, which also encompasses limited transportation, office support and radio broadcast time, is worth about USD 300,000, part of a broader USD 4 million-election package funded by the UN Development Program.

Only one political force, the centrist Social Democratic Party of Mario Carrascalao, a dissident former governor under Indonesian occupation, has refused the UN aid, arguing it was "paternalistic" and aimed "to control" the parties.