Jakarta – A pro-Indonesia group has called on the United Nations to count the votes at next week's self-determination ballot at the stations where they are cast, the state Antara news agency said Sunday.

"People will not have a chance to see the counting process transparently if the vote counting is centered in Dili," Antara quoted a spokesman for the Forum of Unity, Democracy and Justice (FPDK) as saying.

The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) has repeatedly announced that the August 30 ballot will be secret, to avert possible reprisals, and that for the same reason the votes will be counted centrally.

Basilio Araujo, the spokesman for the FPDK, which groups several pro-Indonesia fronts including the army-backed militia, argued the centralized system was "undemocratic."

Araujo also warned the central count by UNAMET could become "a reason for either or both of the two conflicting groups in East Timor to reject the outcome of the ballot."