Dili – The candidates are on the campaign trail, polling staff are ready and the stage is nearly set for East Timor's first presidential election, UNTAET's election chief announced today, nine days before the poll.
Carlos Valenzuela, Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), told a press conference that election preparations – including polling staff training, voter education, materials and plans – are all on schedule for the 14 April polling day.
The presidential election will be the third UN-run ballot in East Timor, and the last before the former colony celebrates its birth as an independent nation on 20 May. Drawing on the past polls, the IEC and the UN Development Programme have just completed a lexicon of election terminology in Tetum, the lingua franca of the territory.
"One of the most important requirements for creating a democratic culture is being able to express the many concepts involved in democracy and elections in a language that the majority of the people understand," Valenzuela said.
Two candidates are on the ballot for president: Francisco Xavier do Amaral, a Deputy President of the Legislative Assembly, and independence leader Xanana Gusmao. Both are busy criss-crossing the territory before the campaign period ends on 12 April.
Election preparations have been at full pace for several months. About 5,280 electoral staff have been trained in the proper procedures for a free-and-fair poll; IEC staff and UN-run television and radio canvassed the territory with voter education materials; and 107 observer groups – both national and international – have registered to participate in polling day.
The emphasis on this election has been on the "Timorisation" of the process. Unlike the previous two polls – the 1999 Popular Consultation on the future of the territory and the 2001 Constituent Assembly election – East Timorese hold a majority of seats on the IEC Board, control all 13 district electoral offices and will participate in the counting of the ballots.
The IEC has estimated the number of eligible voters at roughly 430,000 people. The number is based on the voter roll for the Constituent Assembly election, plus people who have been added to the national Civil Registry and those who have turned 17 since the Assembly election, minus those who may have died or left East Timor since August 2001.
During the Assembly election, 91 per cent of East Timor's eligible voters cast a ballot.