Constituent Assembly President Francisco "Lz-Olo" Guterres said today he expects the assembly to pass East Timor's first Constitution by the 25 January deadline.

"The process is difficult but we expect to approve a Constitution within the extra time that we have allotted for the task," he said.

On 13 December the assembly passed a motion extending the 15 December deadline to 25 January. The assembly members, who began debating the draft Constitution on 3 December, have so far passed 55 of its 151 articles.

The Constituent Assembly today passed the following three articles:

Article 53 deals with the right to private property; Article 54 concerns the right to social security, and provides that the state shall promote the establishment of a social security system. Article 55 recognizes the right of everyone to health and medical care and provides that the state shall promote the establishment of a national health service.

Meanwhile, Carlos Valenzuela, the Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), today presented the draft "Regulation to Elect the First President of the Democratic Republic of East Timor" to the assembly's Special Legislative Committee (SLC).

The SLC will meet on 27 December to consider the draft regulation in detail. The IEC requires a regulatory framewok to be in place by 15 January 2002 if presidential elections are to be held as planned in April 2002.

The assembly will not be convening on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December, nor on 1 and 2 January.