Hopes high for peaceful, fair election in Timor Leste

The Jakarta Post - Sunday, April 8, 2007

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Dili

While most of the eight candidates in Timor Leste's presidential election have continued to express fear about fraud and intimidation in Monday's election, the public seems upbeat and hopeful of a fair and peaceful election.

"I'm still uncertain whom I'm going to vote for, but I've registered myself and my family and will go to the polling station to cast my vote," taxi driver Daniel Vicente Soares, 55, said Saturday.

He said it was important to show to the international community that the young nation could have peaceful elections.

Abel, 35, a coffee-shop attendant in Dili, said he hoped calm would prevail during the vote.

"I'm so tired of living in fear and seeing violence. This election is about a new beginning for us all," he said.

Though he claimed to support incumbent Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, he said he would prefer a peaceful outcome to a violent victory for Ramos-Horta.

Timor Leste has a population of just over a million people and over half of the population are eligible to vote.

As of Saturday, the situation in the capital Dili was calm after the campaign period ended Friday.

Besides Ramos-Horta, other candidates are Francisco Xavier do Amaral of the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASTD), Fernando de Araujo of the Democratic Party, Joao Carrascalao of the Democratic Timorese Party (UDT), Francisco Guterres of the Revolutionary Front of an Independent Timor Leste (Fretilin), Lucia Lobato of the Social Democrat Party, Avelino Coelho da Silva of the Timorese Socialist Party (PST) and Manuel Tilman of the Sons of the Mountain Warriors.

It is believed that Ramos-Horta and Fretilin's Guterres are the front runners in the election.

Ramos-Horta on Saturday again raised concerns of potential vote tampering in the election. He accused Fretilin of using scare tactics to get people to vote for them.

"When they talked about a door-to-door campaign, what they actually meant was door-to-door intimidation. I know for a fact, I was there. I was told by the local police. I have also been told by many people how Fretilin activists go door to door telling people that if they don't vote for them, they will win anyway and people who didn't vote for them will be 'taken care of'," he told journalists.
Ramos-Horta said, however, that he was yet to receive reports of actual physical abuse.

He warned that such tactics could backfire.

On Friday, candidates Carrascalao, de Araujo, Lobato and Amaral also expressed similar fears of manipulation.

They said they only received identity cards from observers Friday, leaving insufficient time to prepare for the election.

They allege the ruling Fretilin party got its identity cards some time ago from a government department which organizes the election.

Ramos-Horta said he hoped the candidates would stand in solidarity ahead of the polls to urge for peace. "I have taken the initiative of getting in touch with the national commission to bring together all the candidates so they can make a final appeal for voters to behave," he said.