UNMIT – MEDIA MONITORING - Thursday, 26 April 2007

National Media Reports

Horta has no principles, KOTA supports Lu-Olo
Klibur Oan Timor Asswa’in party (KOTA) decided to support the Fretilin candidate Lu-Olo, because ‘Jose Ramos Horta has no principles.’

The president of KOTA, Manuel Tilman, on Wednesday (25/4) at the national parliament declared that even though KOTA supports Lu-Olo, he will not force his supporters to vote for Lu-Olo. (DN)

Rerden: “ISF has not halted the operation on Alfredo”
In response to Horta and President Gusmão’s declaration to halt the operations to capture fugitive Reinado, the Commander of the ISF, Brigadier General Mal Rerden, said that the ISF will not halt the operation until it receives a clarification letter from the government.

“ISF has not received any formal letter from the government requesting to halt the operation. Once ISF receives the letter, it will discuss the issue with the government,” said Rerden on Wednesday (25/4) at the ISF office in Caicoli Dili.

In addition, Rerden said that the operation to capture Alfredo could be easily stopped, however a public declaration to so should first come from the government. (DN)

General Prosecutor does not want to mediate Alfredo’s case
The Prosecutor General (GP), Longuinhos Monteiro, said that the GP would not mediate a dialogue but rather would take the case through a proper legal process.

“I don’t want the youth or the public in general to say that the GP intervened in some way. The GP will take the case through the proper legal process,” said Longuinhos on Wednesday (25/4) at his office in Caicoli Dili. (DN)

Horta promises to be a president of peace
Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta’s second round of campaigning began on Wednesday (25/4) in Manufahi, Dotik Village sub-district Alas.

Horta took this opportunity to affirm that if he is elected to be president, he will be a president for peace. He said his priority is to maintain peace and work on poverty reduction. (TP)

Seven members of government against Ramos Horta
Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta, who left his post as Prime Minister to run his campaign for the second round of elections, is now being challenged by other government officials.

At a press conference on 25/4 at the MTRC office in Caicoli Dili, the Minister of Labor and Solidarity, Arsenio Paixão Bano, accompanied by the Vice Minister, and the Ministers of Transportation and Telecommunication, Education, State, Finance, and the Vice Ministers of Education and Public Works, the Secretary of the State, and the Minister of the Presidential Council, said that Horta has no right to intervene in the government’s duties until the second round of elections are complete. (TP)

Estanislau asks for an investigation on the case of rice distribution
At a press conference on Wednesday (25/4) at the Office of Ministry of Agriculture Dili, the Minister of Agriculture and Vice Prime Minister, Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, said that if Prime Minister Horta insists on an investigation, then the Minister of Labor and Solidarity and Community Reinsertion, Arsenio Paixão Bano, should be investigated.

He explained that the rice was distributed to the population in Balibo by MTRC as government assistance to the people.

“If the Prime Minister does not agree with it, then the case will be investigated. Arsenio is being courageous,” said Estanislau. (TP)

CNE held meeting with political parties
After attending a meeting with CNE Commissioners on Wednesday (25/4) at the CNE office in Kintal Boot Dili, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party (PD), Osorio Mau Lequi, said that the CNE held a meeting with the political parties that have registered with the court of appeals and these parties will compete in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

He said the meeting focused on ways that the political parties could present their parliamentary candidates and on security matters. (STL)

Government ignoring CII recommendation
The Chief of Human Rights Assosiasaun Hak, Aniceto Neves, reportedly told journalists on Wednesday (25/4) at his office in Farol Dili, that the government is ignoring the recommendations made by the Commission of International Investigation (CII), which was formed by the United Nations to investigate and analyze the atmosphere of Timor-Leste during the crisis.

He said that ignoring the recommendations is a way for the government to protect those involved in the crisis and who have not yet been arrested.

He said that the government has no intention of bringing these actors to court as recommended by CII. (STL)

Population in Hudi Laran flee from their homes to Hosana Church
In the past two days, at least 13 families from Hudi Laran moved to IDP camps due to confrontations between martial arts groups, 7-7 and PSHT in Bairo Pite.

On Tuesday night, some evacuated to Seminário Fatumeta IDP camp and others to Hotel Hong Kong then on Wednesday morning they moved to Cathedral Villa Verde.

Members of PSHT used homemade weapons, looted and damaged property and fired a man, who was immediately brought to a hospital in Dili by UNPol. (STL)


International Media Reports

East Timor election: what's cooking?
East Timor's recent Presidential election has been characterized by allegations of fraud and voting irregularities
Reports, Peter Westmore

Despite the evident desire of about half a million people to vote in East Timor's recent Presidential election, the counting of the ballot has been so tainted by allegations of fraud and irregularities that it should be done again.

Although the United Nations has been involved, the conduct of the election was in the hands of an East Timorese government body, STAE (the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration), a body reputed to be dominated by members of Fretilin, the governing arty.

The early count indicated high levels of support for Fernando de Araujo of the Democratic Party and Prime Minister José Ramos Horta, but the final vote showed that the Fretilin candidate, Lu Olo, won the largest number of votes, with Mr Horta second.

If the count is confirmed by the National Electoral Commission, these two candidates will go into the second round of the election, to be held on May 9.

Six of the eight candidates, including José Ramos Horta, indicated publicly they had concerns about the conduct of the election.

Intimidation

Five of them wrote to the president of the National Electoral Commission alleging that there had been a climate of intimidation by Fretilin against opposition candidates in three of the country's 14 districts, Viqueque, Baucau and Ermera. In two of these, opposition supporters had been attacked, and some had sustained injuries.

Further, they alleged that some supporters of the opposition arties had been prevented from voting, that ballot boxes had not been kept secure, and that government members had intervened at a number of polling centres.

A letter, documenting specific allegations, was also released by Fernando de Araujo, president of the Democratic Party.

They alleged that valid votes cast in favor of the opposition were rejected by STAE officials; that there had been fake ballot papers found in some polling centres; and that in at least one district, the number of ballot boxes returned at the end of the count was larger than the number of ballot boxes issues.

Other allegations were that only agents for Fretilin were permitted to be present at one polling station, while the Minister for State Administration, Ana Pessoa Pinto (a close associate of Fretilin secretary-general Mari Alkatiri) was seen carrying 350 ballot papers outside a polling booth.

Mr de Araujo said, “Based on these facts, the Electoral Team of Fernando 'Lasama' de Araujo demands CNE [the National Electoral Commission] declare invalid the Presidential Election which took place in East Timor on 9 April 2007 and ask competent authorities to investigate and punish those responsible for such repulsive and undemocratic acts of electoral manipulation.”

CNE referred the matter to the judiciary, but no decision has been released at the time of going to press.

Serious problems in the administration of the election were confirmed by CNE. It found more than 100 violations of the electoral law and irregularities in the Presidential election.

The commission plans to submit its findings to the Supreme Court, which will decide whether the cases affect the legal validity of the election.

CNE spokesman Martinho G. da Silva Gusmao said that after a CNE plenary meeting and two days spent examining the cases they had decided to forward them to the court.

“We have found 50 cases in Dili alone. We are still verifying other districts, but so far more than 100 violations have been found. We will submit the cases to the court once we complete our verification. It will then depend on the court to decide on the validity of the election,” he said.

The breakdown in the count appeared to be the result of problems in the official figures compiled at polling centres, as well as in the district offices where ballot boxes were sent after polling day.

One of the most surprising aspects of the result was the relatively low turnout, as recorded by the official vote tally.

According to figures calculated from the unofficial count, days after the election, there were about 401,000 votes cast, compared to 523,000 registered voters, a turn-out of 77 per cent, which was lower than expected. This figure contradicted the empirical observation of observers, who noted that many thousands of people lined up for over an hour to vote.

Shortly after the first unofficial count was released, CNE discovered “95 ballot boxes, holding several hundred votes each, which have either not been counted or were not added to the election data base. Fifty-nine of the boxes come from Dili.”

There is great pressure on the count to recognize the result, despite the irregularities, because the second-round election is scheduled for May 9, and the parliamentary elections are to be held at the end of June.

Delay in the first round would cause problems with the whole electoral timetable. Yet it would be wrong to endorse a flawed electoral process simply to meet the pressures of the election timetable. The result would be to discredit the entire election and the person elected to this office. The News Weekly


EDITORIAL: Implications of East Timor's election
Peter Westmore
Whatever the ultimate outcome of East Timor's recent Presidential election, it is highly likely that Fretilin will lose the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

While the counting of votes in the first round of East Timor's Presidential election has been an utter debacle, the election offers the prospect that fundamental change may be underway in East Timor.

Although the election was conducted by the government, the published results show a massive decline in the vote for Fretilin, the Marxist party which has run East Timor since independence in 2002.

In light of the fact that Fretilin had use of the resources of government to help its election campaign, it is significant that on the published figures, Fretilin's vote has halved from 57 per cent in 2002 to about 28 per cent in 2007, with much of the residual coming from the Fretilin heartland in three districts.

Equally importantly, the vote secured by José Ramos Horta, the darling of the international media and preferred candidate of some foreign governments (including Australia's), was just 22 per cent - far lower than they expected.

Although Horta stood as an independent, he had the authority of being the existing Prime Minister of East Timor, and had the strong endorsement of the retiring President, Xanana Gusmao.

Horta also attempted to project himself as the favored son of the Catholic Church, the faith to which the overwhelming majority of Timorese are attached. His election propaganda showed a photo of him alongside Bishop Carlos Belo, the revered former Bishop of Dili, as they were presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

Little comfort

The vote, however, gives little comfort to either Fretilin or José Ramos Horta.

On the other hand, the opposition pro-democracy parties, which were completely marginalized when Fretilin took over in 2002, did far better than most international observers expected.

Fernando de Araujo, the leader of the Democratic Party, won about 17 per cent of the popular vote; Xavier do Amaral, leader of ASDT, secured 13 per cent; Lucia Lobato from the Social Democratic Party won about 10 per cent, while other opposition parties won a smaller share of the vote.

The combined vote of these parties, which have established a coalition, is now considerably greater than that of either Fretilin or José Ramos Horta.

A long-time supporter of Fretilin, Mark Aarons, recently wrote a perceptive analysis of the election outcome in The Australian on April 12. He wrote: “In a fractured vote, the standout result of Monday's first round of the presidential election is the devastating blow delivered to the ruling Fretilin party.

“In the 2001 election for a constituent assembly, Fretilin received more than 57 per cent of the vote, ensuring that it later formed the first government when the assembly transformed itself into a parliament. Fretilin then had the advantages of popular goodwill from its role in the independence struggle and its formidable village-based organization.”

Mr Aarons noted that in five years, the Fretilin vote had fallen from three in every five Timorese to one in four.

“The roots of this staggering reversal lie with the dominant wing of Fretilin led by former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. Alkatiri did little to counter his reputation for arrogance with his pre-vote declaration that Fretilin's candidate would win in the first round with up to 60 per cent of the vote. He was 'with the people' and knew they would vote for Fretilin, as they always had (and, presumably, always would).

“The problem with this self-delusion was that Alkatiri and his group had failed to deliver the basics for their people when they had the chance: education, health, jobs, roads, electricity and clean water,” Aarons noted.

An additional important factor was the role of Alkatiri and Fretilin in the violence which erupted last year. One of Alkatiri's closest associates, the former Interior Minister, Rogerio Lobato, was found guilty recently of supplying government-issue weapons to a group of ex-Fretilin soldiers, who were instructed to assassinate rival political leaders.

In the course of the violence last year, the army and police split, gang violence erupted on the streets with people being stoned and houses burned, tens of thousands of people fled their homes, and a number of unarmed police were murdered in cold blood.

The turmoil was only brought under control when Australian and other international forces landed in Dili, disarming the warring police and army factions, and the death squad. However, tens of thousands of people in Dili remain homeless, and those responsible are still at large.

What counts against José Ramos Horta is that he promised to address the crisis facing East Timor when appointed Prime Minister last year: but nothing has happened. The prevailing sense of frustration with the old government is palpable.

Whatever the outcome of the Presidential election, it is highly likely that Fretilin will not control the next parliament, which may have a democratic majority prepared to face up to the issues which Fretilin has failed to address. The News Weekly