Notícias - 7 de Abril de 2007

ABC - Sunday, April 8, 2007. 6:20am (AEST)

Presidential candidates prepare for E Timor election
Candidates in East Timor's presidential election will make a last bid for the top job today, before voters head to the polls.

Electoral officials will distribute 500,000 ballot papers today to 700 polling stations across the country.

In more remote areas porters on horseback, even on foot, will be needed to reach every last home, to maximise the vote.

Some of the eight candidates have accused the ruling Fretilin Party of intimidating their supporters to ensure its candidate wins.

Interim Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta, who is standing for the presidency, says police have told him that Fretilin officials have threatened some voters with revenge if they do not support their candidate.

"I know from fact. I was there. I was told by the local police," he said.

"I've been told by different people how certain Fretilin activists they go door to door Fretilin, saying if you don't vote for Fretilin we are going to win anyway, we will take care of you."

But Fretilin denies the claim, saying its supporters too have been targeted by violence.

Fretilin's President Francisco Guterres and Jose Ramos Horta are the two frontrunners, but it is almost certain the election will go to a second vote next month.

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AFP – 07 April 2007

More doubt cast over East Timor poll

by Sebastien Blanc

Dili - More doubt has been cast over East Timor's presidential poll after a UN-appointed team said Saturday it had not certified the integrity of the nation's electoral process, two days ahead of the vote.

The team, set up in East Timor by the United Nations last year, could not certify the process using tests to ensure the vote is free and transparent, said Vincent da Cruz, its special assistant.

"Yes, that is correct," da Cruz told AFP, when asked if the poll had yet to be certified.

Half the eight candidates standing for election said Friday they feared many attempts had been made to manipulate the election process and that there had been violence, intimidation and threats.

Monday's presidential election will be East Timor's first since independence in 2002, following a bloody separation from Indonesia. At least 32 people have been injured in various election-linked unrest that led police on Wednesday to fire warning shots, the UN said.

A possible shortage of ballots on polling day could be a flashpoint for more trouble, an election specialist, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.

"They have more voters now than they anticipated," the specialist said. "The potential is that some polling stations could run very close on their ballot numbers."

"People can vote anywhere they want in the country and this is a holiday weekend," the specialist added. "They are going back to their villages. Nobody really knows how many people will show up at which polling stations."

It was hard to say if the result of the election would be credible, and there could be unrest when results are announced three to five days after the vote, the specialist added.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called on all parties to make the election free and fair in the former Portuguese colony. "I hope the elections will be free, fair, transparent and credible. I hope they will be unmarred by violence and intimidation, and I hope they will lead to results accepted by all," Ban said in a message broadcast on local radio.

East Timor was calm Saturday as thousands of United Nations and local police, backed up by international peacekeeping troops, prepared to secure the election.

Voters will choose the successor to one-time guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, with Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate, considered to be a strong contender.

The chairman of the ruling Fretilin party, Fransisco Guterres, and Fernando "Lasama" de Araujo, who chairs the opposition Democratic Party, are also considered to be viable candidates.

Gusmao, who became president in a pre-independence poll, is not seeking re-election.

Violence has pulsed through East Timor, one of the world's newest and poorest countries, since it chose self-determination in a UN-administered referendum in 1999.

At least 37 people were killed and 150,000 displaced in unrest last year that led to the dispatch of Australian-led international peacekeepers.

A hunted renegade criticised for his role in the 2006 violence, Major Alfredo Reinado, remains on the loose. The international force attacked his base last month, killing five of his armed supporters, but he escaped.

A provisional count following election day is supposed to be completed by April 14 and final results are due by April 18. A candidate has to get more than 50 percent to win, or else the contest will go to a runoff May 9.