Dili – The United Nations Monday declared the registration process for East Timor's August 30 ballot on independence a success, saying it had already registered almost all the expected voters.

"We are on target with the numbers," UN spokesman David Wimhurst told reporters in Dili. "Given our initial estimates, and given that we are now three days away from the end of the process, I think we can say that it has been a successful exercise."

He said that preliminary figures showed that 378,302 voters had registered up to Saturday, the 16th day of the 20-day registration period.

The United Nations estimates that between 300,000 and 400,000 East Timorese are eligible to vote in the referendum, when they will be asked to choose between independence and increased autonomy within Indonesia.

With registration set to end Wednesday, Wimhurst urged those who had not yet registered to come forward as soon as possible. "We would encourage everybody to register now wherever they are," he said.

Wimhurst said that under a provisional timetable campaigning for the vote would start on August 11 and continue until August 27, followed by a two-day cooling off period before the vote itself.

There have been concerns that the large numbers of East Timorese who have been displaced by violence in the run-up to the vote were having trouble registering to vote.

Wimhurst said that extra registration officers had been moved to a number of areas to help with an expected rush to register by internal refugees.

"In some areas, to deal with the numbers of internally displaced people who are seeking to register, we have reinforced some of the centers with additional personnel so we can handle an anticipated increase in volume."