Throwing stones and breaking bones

I read an article today about how protesters in Barcelona hurled rocks at police, bank offices and shop fronts. We constantly hear in the media about men and women being stoned to death for crimes against Islam, like adultery.

Here, in Timor Leste, the weapon of choice seems to always be the stone. Yesterday, we had to stop because a dog decided to take his break on the road. Some kids witnessed and started throwing stones at the dog to make it move, apparently for them it's better than honking the horn or just shooing it away, which is always my preferred means of handling these situations. Kids, when they play with each other, are constantly throwing stones at one another and if you've been reading this blog from the start, you know that I've also been a 'victim' of stoning when coming out of a nightclub in Dili. I decided to look into the history of stoning - yes, I'll be honest, there hasn't been enough work around here to keep me well occupied, between the regular reports, everything is at a standstill until they start voter education activities next week.

According to the all-knowing site, wikipedia, stoning or lapidation is "a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the case of a judicial executioner. Stoning is slower than other forms of execution, and hence is a form of execution by torture."

However, in Timor's case, stoning is usually never that extreme. People do throw stones when a conflict arises, at most often at other people, but usually never in a collective with the intention to kill. The machete and the rifle have been the weapon of murder during Timor's long war against Indonesia. So why do people feel the need to throw stones, regardless of the target? Is it education, is it ignorance, is it poverty? The concept of throwing stones, albeit abominable to me at the same time, is rather fascinating, much like the Timorese's constant and severe mistreatment of dogs...all I can ask is WHY?

I wanted to know more about Timor's use of stones so I typed in "Timor throws stone" into google and these are some of the headlines that caught my eyes:

"Mob Throws Stones At UN Police In E Timor Before UN Visit Associated Press November 10, 2000"

"A East Timorese youth throws stones during a clash between gangs in Dili ABC News May 6 2011", this one even came with the photo below

"People stone United Nations car after traffic accident leaves a Timorese boy dead ETLJB December 12 2011"

Even travel guides mention it, advising caution when coming to Timor Leste! Here's what Lonely Planet had to say: " Given the regular bouts of political instability in East Timor, check the current situation before you visit (although government travel advisories are usually cautious in the extreme). Outside of mass unrest, political violence is not aimed at non-Timorese. If you see stone throwing or other provocations, vamoose."

What you get from these headlines is also that Timorese don't like the UN, and that is true! The people are waiting anxiously for the day when UNMIT's mandate runs out and every wrong step taken by the UN is a cause for stoning or badmouthing in the press...because of this we tread lightly when interacting with our national counterparts.

This doesn't, of course, mean that if you come to Timor Leste you will most definitely find yourself in stone throwing situations but the likelihood of you witnessing some stone throwing is rather higher than the government would wish. And I guess, in regards to my question of why, the answer problem lies in the fact that the Timorese can be extremely hot-headed and what would seem to you as a normal and perhaps just over-heated argument can quickly escalate into conflict and violence, and the easiest weapon at hand...the stone. Kids see this and copy in their childhood games, not having plastic toy guns to play with stones became the medium and it becomes ingrained in their memory as the weapon of choice...which begs the question, how to change a society's mentality in regards to conflict and its resolution, especially after suffering from more than 20 years of foreign aggression?

Food for thought

After the elections, what happens next?

Three days after the elections, I'm still exhausted and lacking sleep and my body still aches all over from driving!

Yesterday we went through all the materials that were left to start preparing for the second round, which will be held on April 21st. Some boxes were still complete, no items missing, but unfortunately most were missing quite a lot: calculator, stappler, rulers, pens...To be honest you can't really blame them...Timorese people still live in dire poverty even with all the oil money around. That's actually one of the factors that led to the 2007 violence, the people know the money is there but they are not seeing any changes to their living conditions! Look at Maliana, still no electricity 24 hours a day but for election day, both Saturday and Sunday, there WAS electricity 24/7 so the means are there!

The second round promises to be very interesting with Lu'Olo and TMR neck and neck. They were both prominent fighters during the resistance against Indonesia but TMR is older than Lu'Olo and has already addressed his competition publicly claiming that, as he's older, it's his turn now to be president! But Lu'Olo was up ahead of TMR in the poles so will TMR concede if Lu'Olo wins or will he resent the fact that, as his elder, TMR should be the rightful president!! There is also the problem that a lot of people won't understand why they have to vote again, especially in places where TMR and Lu'Olo weren't even contenders, like in Bobonaro where Lasama won with a wide majority and Ramos-Horta came in second, so that's our job (STAE) now to make sure people understand why they need to choose again between these 2 even if they didn't vote for either of them in the first round.

There was also the issue that, while TMR was campaigning and as he is the leader of the Timorese army, soldiers were campaigning for him while armed! CNE is the body in charge of monitoring the campaigns and the elections and has already sent in electoral offences to deal with this situation but I find it very irresponsible to use the army at all to campaign, it can instill unecessary fear in the voters! Also, I don't know how I feel about having a military man as head of the country, I'm not quite sure it's the right way to lead Timor into the future and possibly into ASEAN.
This looks to be one interesting campaign indeed, I just hope that the Timorese will let it run as smoothly and peacefully as this election just passed. 

In the meantime here are some interesting post-election news :)

National NewsFretilin's Lu-Olo takes the lead in presidential election
Timornewsline

Presidential Candidate Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres from the Fretilin Party is currently in the lead in the presidential election with 123,751 votes (28.38 %), while the ex-army commander, Taur Matan Ruak is in second place with 109,338 votes (25.07%).

The incumbent President José Ramos-Horta is in third place with 78,423 votes (17.98%).

Presidential candidate Fernando "Lasama" de Araujo, who is also the country's president of Parliament, is in fourth place with 77,447 votes (17.76%).


Presidential election runs peacefully, CNE congratulates PNTL
Suara Timor Lorosae (cover page)

National Election Commission, Commissioner Angelina Sarmento congratulated the PNTL on its support to guarantee security in the presidential election.

"I congratulate the Timorese people and the National Police on their efforts to guarantee the presidential election with peace and tranquillity," said Sarmento.

PNTL Deputy General Commander Afonso de Jesus said that he appreciates Timorese people who are able to participate in democracy with peace and unity.

"Even though the first round of the presidential election is complete, PNTL continues to support security in the country," said de Jesus.

UNPOL Commissioner Luis Carrilho said that he is pleased with the Timorese people as they understood and respected PNTL and UNPOL role to secure the election process.


Ruak and Lu-Olo go to second round
Independente (cover page)

The presidential election provisional results show that there is no major winner in the election, and that presidential candidates Taur Matan Ruak and Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres will move to the second round.

The total votes for Lu-Olo is 28.31% and for Taur Matan Ruak is 25.04%.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão called on all citizens to accept the election results.

"I am calling on the youth and candidates’ supporters to show to ourselves and the world that we are able to maintain the growth of democracy and maintain tolerance and respect," said Gusmão.


Horta: I am happy to receive the election results
Diário Nacional 19 March 2012

Presidential candidate José Ramos-Horta said that he is pleased with the results, whether he wins or loses the race to become president of the republic.

Ramos-Horta spoke to journalists at the voting centre in Metiaut, Dili on Saturday.

Horta said that Lu-Olo, Lasama, TMR, and Jose Luis Guterres are able to lead Timor-Leste into the future, and encouraged them to strengthen peace, unity and stability if the Timorese people elect any of them to be president.

Horta said that he appreciates the efforts of Timorese people to strengthen stability from the first day of the campaign up to election day.


CNE files 10 electoral offenses, three submitted to Public Prosecution
Independente (cover page)

The National Election Commission (CNE) President Faustino Cardoso said that they identified ten electoral offenses and they already submitted three of them to the Public Prosecution.

"CNE received 10 cases presented by Ruak’s promotion team, the Timor-Leste Press Club (TLPC), Partido Republicano, from the promotion team of Lu-Olo,"

"CNE responded to such claims and some of them have been resolved. Three of them as electoral offenses have been sent to the Public," said Cardoso.

He added that the campaigns went well within 15 days, even though there an incident occurred but it did not have a major impact.


Lasama worried about Gusmão’s presence at STAE
Diário Nacional, 19 March 2012

Presidential candidate Fernando de Araujo Lasama declared his concerns to STAE-CNE about the presence of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão at STAE’s office.

Lasama made the comment at CNE’s office on 16 March while meeting with the 12 presidential candidates and the promotion teams about the election.

Lasama said that Gusmão is also a campaigner for TMR; therefore, Lasama is worried that Gusmão’s presence at the STAE office may interfere in STAE’s duties.

However, Lasama believes that Gusmão did not do anything at STAE’s office.

STAE Director Tomas Cabral said that article 12 says that STAE is accountable to the government; Cabral added that the prime minister’s presence at STAE was to support STAE to speed up the distribution of ballot papers to the districts.


Horta says that electoral law drafters are brainless
Independente (cover page)

President of the Republic José Ramos-Horta said that whoever drafted the electoral law is brainless, because the law forces people who have no money to pay for public transportation to return to their homes to vote in their villages.

"I was sad when I passed through Manatuto I saw thousands of people in open trucks and on motorbikes who went back to their villages even though it was raining,’

"I am angry because the electoral law forces poor people and small vendors in Hali-Laran and Comoro markets who have no money but they have to go to their districts such as Baucau, Lospalos, Ainaro, Aileu and others,’

"It seems that whoever produced the law has no brain. People have to spend US$30 to go to Oecussi and Suai. It made me upset with the electoral law. We produce the law to facilitate people to participate [in the election] and not to make them face difficulties," said Horta.


Lu-Olo: No political force can divide Fretilin party
Suara Timor Lorosae (cover page)

President of the Fretilin Party, Francisco Guterres ‘Lu-Olo’ said that he received a lot of votes in the eastern part of Timor-Leste, which means that no political force is able to divide Fretilin party members in those districts.

Lu-Olo said that the party is still strong because since the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2007 Fretilin has consistently received a lot of votes in those districts.

Lu-Olo said that he is fully confident to win the presidential election because his supporters are committed to vote for him to become the next president of the republic.


International News

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta admits poll defeat
BBC News Asia, 19 March 2012

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has admitted defeat and congratulated his rivals after the first round of the country's presidential election.

Mr Ramos-Horta said he would hand over power to the winner on 19 May.

Opposition leader Francisco Guterres and former guerrilla leader Taur Matan Ruak were ahead after at least 70% of the votes were counted, based on data from the election commission.

The two candidates face a run-off on 21 April.

The electoral commission is still counting the votes and has yet to announce the final results. So far, Mr Guterres has a narrow lead over Mr Ruak, with Mr Ramos-Horta trailing in third place.

"I congratulate the two candidates who continue into the second round," he said at a news conference.

Mr Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace prize winner, has been a key figure in East Timor politics since 1999. He defeated Mr Guterres in the 2007 run-off after coming second in the first round.

He served as foreign minister, prime minister and eventually president from 2007.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial role, but the election comes in a year of security transition, with UN forces scheduled to leave by the end of the year.

East Timor gained independence in 2002 after three years of UN administration, which followed more than two decades of bloody guerrilla warfare during Indonesian rule.

Twelve candidates took part in this election.


Peaceful polls
News Straits Times (Malaysia), 19 March 2012

AT the time of this writing, incumbent Nobel Prize-winning President Jose Ramos-Horta was trailing in third place in the presidential polls in Timor Leste. The front runner was leader of the main opposition Fretilin Party, Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, who also won the first round of the 2007 presidential election. Coming in second place was former army chief Taur Matan Ruak, who is backed by the National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, the party of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. In fourth place was speaker of parliament Fernando Lasama de Araujo, who came in third in the first round in 2007 and endorsed Ramos-Horta in the second round. In other words, the early results show that the race for the presidency of Timor Leste is running true to form.

It was widely expected that it would be a three-way battle between Gutteres, Ruak and Ramos-Horta, with de Araujo a possible dark horse, and the other eight candidates contesting the elections unlikely to receive significant support. Though it is much too early to say who will eventually emerge as the top two, whatever the final results may be, what is clear is that a run-off would be necessary as it was five years ago. The closeness of the race points to the fact that there will be no outright winner with a clear majority.

What is also clear is that the people of Timor Leste turned out in larger numbers -- 626,000 this year compared with 524,000 five years ago -- and were able to cast their votes free from intimidation, threats and violence. This is not to say that past presidential elections have been violent. Indeed, the first one in 2002 and the second in 2007 were largely incident-free. But the same cannot be said of the country in general. Indeed, the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2007 were held against a backdrop of the violence that broke out following the military mutiny in 2006. In 2008, there were attempts to assassinate the president and prime minister. But since then, the security situation has improved.

The fact that the campaign period and election day in the first round of this year's presidential polls have been virtually free of violence is further testimony to the political progress that has been made. At this rate, this young nation will have much to celebrate when it marks the 10th year of its founding in May. The hope is that when Timor Leste again goes to the polls in June, things will be just as peaceful.


Ramos-Horta out as East Timor heads for run-off
The Western Australia/AFP, 19 March 2012

DILI - East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has lost his bid for re-election, failing to make it to a run-off in the country's second presidential vote as a free nation, preliminary results showed Sunday.

The results pointed to a second-round showdown between the opposition Fretilin party's Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres and former armed forces chief Taur Matan Ruak, an official from the election secretariat said.

Ramos-Horta, who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to his homeland, lagged in third place after more than 70 percent of votes were counted, official Luiz Fernando Valls told AFP.

"Guterres and Ruak will go through to the second round on April 16, based on this preliminary count," he said.

The shift to candidates with lower profiles on the world stage was "emblematic of the desire to move on from being an international cause", Michael Leach, politics lecturer from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology, told AFP.

It reflected the people of East Timor's desire "to move on from 10 years of international state building", he added.

Ramos Horta, a popular leader who survived a 2008 assassination attempt, said Saturday that if he was not re-elected he would have "to struggle to choose what to do".

The 62-year-old added that he had a long-standing commitment to a Western literary agency to write a book.

None of the 12 candidates who contested Saturday's election were able to garner more than 50 percent of the vote constitutionally required for an outright win.

The vote was the first in a series of key events for the poor and chronically unstable country as it enters a pivotal period.

In May, East Timor will celebrate 10 years of independence from Indonesia, and in June, voters will choose a new government in a general election.

At the end of the year the nation of 1.1 million people bids goodbye to UN forces stationed in the country since 1999.

The preliminary results showed Guterres on around 28 percent, Ruak on 25 percent, and Ramos on 18 percent, with 460,216 votes or about 73 percent of the total votes cast counted, Valls said.

Guterres, 57, who heads the opposition Fretilin party, which is synonymous with the resistance, lost the presidency to Ramos-Horta in a run-off in 2007.

Ruak, 56, who has campaigned in his camouflage fatigues, has vowed to introduce mandatory military service if elected.

He is in the run-off despite being accused by the United Nations of illegal weapons transfers in 2006, when rioting and factional fighting had the nation on the brink of civil war.

Around the country Sunday, Timorese people had their eyes glued to their television sets, watching the changing figures broadcast live by the country's electoral commission on state radio and television.

Everyone from shopkeepers selling traditional handicrafts in Dili's Tias market to candidates' spokesmen mingling with journalists was talking about who would emerge on top.

Votes were being counted by hand, some in remote areas with poor communications, and full results were not due until later in the week, according to election officials.

National election commission president Faustino Cardoso Gomes told a press conference earlier there were "some irregularities" during the election process.

"Some polling stations ran out of ballot papers, for instance in Dili and some other places, but all have been resolved," he said.

Thomas Cabral, head of elections secretariat overseeing the polls, said heavy rains during the elections had affected voter turnout and the transport of ballot papers in some cities.


Opposition Leader Leads in Timor Leste's Presidential Election
Xinhua (China), 18 March 2012

Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, leader of Timor Leste main opposition Fretilin party, is leading in the preliminary result of the presidential election released on midday Sunday.

Among the 328,946 valid votes that have been counted, Lu- Olo won 27.62 percent or more than 90,000 votes, said Tomas de Rorario Cabral, director general of the election management body of STAE.

Lu- Olo was trailed by former armed forces chief General Taur Matan Ruak, who secured 24.23 percent of the votes. Incumbent President Jose Ramos-Horta and Democratic Party chief Fernando Lasama de Araujo ranked the third and fourth place, winning 19.13 percent and 17.78 percent of the votes respectively.

The number of voters have surged from 524,000 in 2007 to more than 626,000 this year, according to the National Commission of Election. A runoff will take place in April if no candidate secures an absolute majority in the first round.

Ramos-Horta won the 2007 election against Lu-Olo in the runoff with the backing of Gusmao's National Reconstruction Congress of Timor Leste party or CNRT.

CNRT did not name its candidate in the election but supports former armed forces chief Taur Matan Ruak.

President in Timor Leste is generally considered playing merely a ceremonial role, but Saturday's poll is crucial to gauge the popularity of Fretilin, the resistance movement that fought for Timor Leste's independence, ahead of the June parliamentary election.


E. Timor's oil 'no solution' to grinding poverty
Agence France-Presse, 18 March 2012

East Timor's oil sector may be pouring more money than ever into state coffers but the grinding poverty on the dirt streets of the capital underlines the challenge facing whoever emerges as the winner of weekend elections.

The half-island nation went to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president to preside over a country where about half the 1.1 million population lives below the poverty line.

East Timor is the world's most oil-dependent economy with energy reserves accounting for around 90 percent of state revenue.

Although oil and gas have bolstered the treasury -- its Petroleum Fund recently swelled to $10 billion -- the majority of the population survive on agriculture, prompting warnings that energy alone is not the solution for Asia's poorest nation.

In Dili, rains bring mud canals that cut through shanty town neighbourhoods of huts slapped together with wooden planks and rusted tin roofs.

Destitute children without a stitch of clothing play in the streets alongside pigs, chickens and stray dogs.

Infrastructure is limited to a few paved roads, a single port and a tiny airport with one baggage carousel. There is no local currency -- everything runs on US dollars.

The abject poverty, in a country celebrating its first decade of independence from Indonesia's 24-year brutal and destructive military occupation, has fuelled heated debate about how to use the Petroleum Fund.

Incumbent President Jose Ramos Horta, a Nobel laureate who is up against 11 other candidates, has promised to prioritise infrastructure, health and education if re-elected.

The fund, established by the government in 2005 to ensure sustainable use of energy revenues, is invested in US bonds and other assets.

But the long-term viability of the East Timor's energy business is contested, with modest exports from offshore fields it shares with Australia compounding concerns that proven reserves are relatively small.

"This is a petrol state without much petrol," said Charles Scheiner of local independent development organisation La'o Hamutuk.

"The government must concentrate on agriculture, fishing, tourism and other sustainable industries instead of pouring resources into developing the energy sector, which one day will dry up."

The organisation believes oil and gas will enrich foreign companies and an emerging elite, but leave the rest of the population behind.

Gualdino da Silva, president of the National Petroleum Authority, told AFP the Petroleum Fund grew to $10 billion as of Wednesday.

Most of the money comes from a project in the Timor Sea operated by ConocoPhillips.

But Kitan, an offshore oil field operated by ENI, has not been profitable since starting operations about eight months ago, da Silva added.

East Timor's hopes of an energy bonanza are pinned to the offshore Greater Sunrise gas and oil field, which is at the heart of a dispute with Australia over which country should receive the gas for refining.

It contains about 5.13 trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 225.9 million barrels of condensate, according to Woodside, its Australian operator.

Lawmaker Aderito Hugo Da Costa believes the contested field is "crucial" to the nation's future.

"If it is resolved in our favour it will create jobs, build infrastructure and transform the face of East Timor," he said.

But others remain unconvinced.

La'o Hamutuk estimates energy reserves will generate about $50 billion over 40 years -- even assuming that 70 times more oil and gas are found in the future.

"That is about $1.88 for each citizen for each day," Scheiner said. "Petroleum is not a solution to East Timor's future problems."


Australia says troops could soon leave East Timor
Associated Press, 19 March 2012

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith says parliamentary elections planned in East Timor could allow international troops to begin withdrawing after six years of restoring stability to the fledgling Southeast Asian nation.

Smith on Monday welcomed the success of weekend presidential elections. The official results won't be known until Tuesday, but the incumbent, Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta, had nowhere near the support needed to advance to an April 21 run-off between the two front-runners.

Smith says if the run-off election and June parliamentary elections are similarly successful, Australia will discuss with the government, United Nations and New Zealand a drawdown of the 470 Australian and New Zealand troops stationed in East Timor.

E-Day: A celebration!

Dear reader,

Have you voted?
If so, how? If it's raining or snowing, do you bother?
I'm 30 years old so I have not yet voted many times since I've been allowed to vote but the process has always been easy as I lived only 5 minutes from my polling station. I have to admit I have also taken voting for granted. I didn't live during the dictatorship, my parents did but I didn't. And my parents aren't very political people so we never had huge discussions at home about which party shoud win or not, we knew which party we followed and why, sometimes we weren't very happy with our leaders but that never led to any real arguments at home about politics although we do love politics. It doesn't help also that my grandfather is right-wing and I am left-wing as it doesn't leave much room for discussions with him either, but voting as always been something that you do, it's your right so you do it!

Here, the right to vote and the right to independence has been fought through many years of blood and tears. There isn't one family that wasn't affected by the war against Indonesia, every family has lost someone they loved. The Timorese people have fought for this right and they are proud to vote, they love to vote and they vote!

Saturday morning all the polling stations of Timor opened bright and early at 7am, people lined up ready with their election cards in hand to show their right to vote. They cast their ballots, they dipped their fingers in ink - it was interesting to see how some people were actually afraid of dipping their fingers in the pot, as if they're expecting the sensation to be scary! - and they smiled because they voted, because they have the right to choose their leaders, to choose their future.

The voting part was easy. The hard part came when you had to count and the hardest part came for us when we had to go to each and every one of the 68 polling centers in Bobonaro to pick up the ballot boxes containing all the ballots and the results for each polling station and bring them back to Maliana for tabulation. We had 40 cars for STAE - the only ones allowed to carry the ballot boxes (including the UNVs cars) - along with PNTL cars and UNPOL cars to escort each STAE car, and then we had CNE cars as well to monitor the process...we had A LOT of cars!

The polling stations closed at 3 in the afternoon, most of them had already finished by 1pm, everyone that could and wanted had already voted, they were just waiting for the official closing time. At the polling station I was monitoring in Bobonaro sub-district, Ilat-Laun, the elders held a dancing ceremony to celebrate the occasion, everyone was happy, it was a beautiful sight.

At 3pm everyone was called over to observe the count, the ballot boxes were open, the ballots spread out, arranged into neat piles awaiting for the count. And it started....if the rest of Timor followed what happened in Ilta-laun we wouldn't even need a second round! Ramos Horta, the incumbent, won by a wide majority with 438 votes against 168 to Lasama, 60 to Lu'Olo and 53 to TMR. I thought to myself, well this will be easy! By the time every vote had been counted it was already 5:30, we still had to go to 2 other polling centers to pick up their ballots, it was already starting to get dark and it had been raining on and off meaning the roads would be muddy and slippery, ie. dangerous.

By 6:30 we arrived at our second destination, Soilesu, where I asked what the result had been, Lasama had won there and Ramos Horta was not even close! Then we moved to Atuaben, the last polling center we were in charge of, Lasama won there again...Lasama had already won Bobonaro district back in 2007 so it was to be expected that he would carry the majority. By 7:30 we were on the road ready to leave for Maliana, I thought, great, we'll be back at headquarters by 9pm. Unfortunately, that was not to be...as we were driving, other cars started joining us, we had to stop on several occasions to wait for other cars and we were asked by other convoys to wait for them at the Lolotoe-Bobonaro junction. It was already pitch black, it had rained and it was cold! It was the first time I actually felt cold in Timor Leste! We waited for the convoy from Loloteo to join us, then we waited for the convoy from the inacessible areas to arrive - they took longer because STAE officials actually had to carry the ballot boxes to where the cars coundn't pass anymore. By the time the convoy was ready it was already 10:45 at night, I was dead tired, I had been driving all day but luckily by this time my colleague had taken the wheel. I was worried about the roads, we had already lost one UNPOL car in Atabae subdistrict - the road they were travelling on caved in and the car fell down a 1.2m drop! Luckily no one was hurt...this sub-district was of course the last to arrive at tabulation because the roads were simply not passable (and ps. this was the polling station I had been assigned to!!!! Good thing we were able to convince our coordinator to change the plan!).

Our convoy was composed of more than 30 cars, going downhill towards Maliana, all the lights on, it was a grand sight! Like a very colourful snake trying to reach its prey, very very slowly! We arrived at Maliana headquarters at a quarter to midnight, by that time we were only missing Atabae sub-district and one polling station from Balibo. The LCD screen was lit with the results so far, the STAE officials were working hard, recounting all the votes to make sure it was correct, the observers and candidate representatives were there, everyone was exhausted but everyone was smiling, it was glorious! We took a break from counting at 4am and then started up again at 9am. I, along with my STAE UNV colleagues, was there, counting each and every ballot, trying to speed the process along, helping when there was a doubt. It was truly amazing to be a part of something so special...You have to remember, this is the first time that the Timorese are doing the elections all by themselves! We are only there for support, we don't tell them what or how to do it, we only help them when they ask!

Some mistakes were made of course, but they worked out how to resolve them and when they did it was transparent through clear explanations to the observing public of what had happened and how they would solve it, again, they are allowed mistakes, to err is human but to learn from it is divine! We finished the count, after all had been said and argued, at 7pm on Sunday night, we clapped and laughed and hugged! By this time tabulation had been going on for 20 some hours!! The final 'Aktas' were packed into a ballot box with the results for Bobonaro district and were sent on their way to Dili with another convoy to join up with the national tabulation. We went home, beaten, battered, exhausted but happy, happy that we had witnessed such an important event in this country's history.

For this, it was all worth it, the back-breaking roads, the lost-in-translation arguments, the aching arms from lifting boxes and more boxes and the hours put in to organize the elections, it was all absolutely worth it!

By the time we went to sleep last night, Lu'olo and TMR were the two contenders for the second round. There's lot to be said about having these two particular candidates running against each other but I have written enough...this will be for another story.

I want to congratulate the people of Timor Leste, the elections ran peacefully, they have proven their worth and right to democracy and thank them for letting me be a part of it!

UN forces ready as back-up in East Timor election

Some news prior to election day...

News Malaysia, 16 March 2012

More than 1,200 UN forces are ready to intervene in East Timor's presidential election this weekend if there is an outbreak of major violence, the top UN official in the country said Friday.

East Timor, which gained formal independence from Indonesia a decade ago, will hold its second presidential poll as a free country Saturday with a line-up that includes the incumbent Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate.

Ameerah Haq, the UN secretary-general's special representative for East Timor, told AFP that the campaign period had gone "remarkably well".

The peaceful run-up to the election stands in stark contrast to the rioting and factional fighting that erupted in 2006 ahead of elections the following year, which left at least 37 dead and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

Last year the UN officially handed security responsibilities back to to East Timor police, although around 1,200 UN forces remain in the country. The country's own security forces will officially safeguard the election but UN forces were ready to step up if needed, Haq said.

"The internal security institutions are much stronger, and we are only here to support them. Right now there is capacity within their own security institutions to handle any outbreak of violence," she said.

"Obviously, if there is something major and widespread we are still here until the end of December."

UN forces have been stationed on the half-island nation of 1.1 million people since the 1999 vote for independence and are due to pull out at the end of the year.

Twelve candidates are running for the presidency but the race is expected to be a three-way contest between Ramos-Horta, the Fretilin party's Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres and former armed forces chief Taur Matan Ruak.

Ramos-Horta won in a second-round of voting against Guterres in 2007, buoyed by the support of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT) party.

But this time the party is backing Ruak, amid signs that the president and prime minister no longer see eye-to-eye on many issues. Ramos-Horta has become increasingly critical of Gusmao's government.

Ruak, who did not run in the 2007 election, is regarded as a hero for his record as a guerrilla leader during Indonesia's 24-year occupation and is seen as the wild card in Saturday's poll.

Rallies by Guterres and Ruak have pulled in the largest number of supporters.

Two weeks of campaigning officially came to a halt on Thursday, two days ahead of the polls.

"In our estimation things have gone very well as the campaigning period is concerned," Haq said, noting that no serious violations or incidents were reported.

Haq said the the UN was providing logistical support to the candidates and elections, including helicopter service to transport ballot papers to remote regions of the impoverished nation, which is virtually without infrastructure.

President Ramos-Horta faces re-election battle in East Timor
AlertNet/Reuters, 16 March 2012, By Tito Belo

DILI, March 16 (Reuters) - Nobel Peace prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta faces a battle on Saturday to win re-election as president of East Timor with 11 other candidates standing, several of whom also played major roles in the nation struggle for independence from Indonesia.

The president of Asia newest and poorest nation plays little role in policy but is vital in projecting stability in East Timor after its bloody struggle for independence in 2002 and scattered violence around parliamentary elections in 2007.

Ramos-Horta, who survived an assassination attempt in 2008, shared the Nobel prize in 1996 for working for a peaceful solution to the East Timor conflict and his key role in the independence movement appeals to voters.

More than 9,000 supporters signed a petition asking Ramos-Horta to stand in the March 17 presidential election.

"If I am elected for a second term I will continue my success that I have achieved now, which is peace," Ramos-Horta told a crowd in Maliana district, southwest of the capital Dili, on Wednesday.

During East Timor long campaign for independence, Ramos-Horta lived in exile, acting as a defacto foreign minister and drumming up international support for independence.

One of his main rivals will be former army chief and guerrilla leader Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, also known as Taur Matan Ruak.

"I fought for 24 years with (former guerilla leader and now Prime Minister) Xanana Gusmao and the people for the independence of East Timor," Matan Ruak said in a speech.

"Ten years after independence people are still poor and this has become my responsibility to be the president and bring hope to all citizens," he said.

Analysts said other rivals with a good chance to progress to a second round of voting on May 9 are Francisco Guterres from the Fretilin party that won the most votes in the parliamentary poll in 2007 and Fernando de Araujo of the Democratic Party.

East Timor is Asia poorest nation but it has vast offshore natural gas reserves and is strugggling to unlock this wealth.

For many voters economic issues are key, as 41 percent of East Timor 1.2 million people live below $0.88 a day, according to a World Bank report, and malnourishment is a significant public health issue.

One of the main problems for East Timor leaders is a dispute with Australia Woodside Petroleum over the development of a big offshore gas field.

Woodside, which heads a consortium of firms developing the Greater Sunrise project gas field, wants to use a floating LNG plant, while East Timor wants the plant to be built onshore in order to create jobs.

The value of a petroleum fund has jumped to $6.9 billion in 2010 from $370 million in 2004 but is yet to be fully used to build the economy, said Damien Kingsbury, a professor from Australia Deakin University.

The presidential campaign, which formally ended on Wednesday, was conducted through a series of rallies at which candidates vied to project a message of peace and stability.

Supporters plastered the dusty capital Dili with posters and toured on motor-bikes or campaign carts blasting out slogans.

"There is progress this year. I can feel this celebration of democracy and a growing tolerance among people and I feel I have my freedom to vote for the person I like," student Laurinda Beti Pinto told Reuters by phone from Dili.

The peaceful campaign has been in itself an achievement, said Cillian Nolan, Southeast Asia expert with the International Crisis Group think tank.

"These elections for many Timorese are an exercise in trying to develop more confidence to where the country is going and to project that image to the outside world," Nolan told Reuters.

(Additional reporting and writing by Olivia Rondonuwu in JAKARTA; Editing by Matthew Bigg and Michael Perry)


Australia to decide future of Timor force
Herald Sun/AAP, 16 March 2012

AUSTRALIA is set to decide the future of its military presence in East Timor after the country's parliamentary elections due in June.

Defence force chief General David Hurley said East Timor's armed forces, the FFDTL, did not depend on Australian troops and were quite capable of independent operations.

He said they and East Timorese police would take responsibility for security in the presidential elections being held this weekend and the parliamentary elections to be held in June.

"We are really a third- or fourth-tier force behind the UN police force and the national forces," he told a parliamentary committee.

General Hurley said the Australian force would remain at its current strength and structure until after the parliamentary elections.

"Then we will go into discussions with the Government of Timor Leste about the form of Australia's future security or defence engagement," he said.

"There are a number of options."

Currently there are some 390 Australian troops in East Timor. With 70 soldiers from New Zealand, they make up the International Stabilisation Force.

As security in East Timor has improved, troop numbers have been progressively reduced.

General Hurley said Australia could stay in East Timor with a smaller force or move to a traditional defence cooperation program in which it would assist with training.

The drop-off convoy

It didn't rain all day yesterday, however the sun was still a no-show.
At 8 in the evening we got word from Dili that the helicopter plan was back on! So we had to get the boxes and cabins ready to be sent to the helipad, however, there was a problem of protection... The CNE (National Elections commission) was worried about using the helicopter because a police officer could not go and accompany the boxes after arrival so in the end, and to the ever-mounting stress of the STAE coordinator, the helicopter was cancelled, again! But by the time I went home, I was confident that all that needed to be done was done and that the drop-off would go without a hitch, as long as it didn't rain, fingers crossed!

We (my flatmates and I) thought we were gonna have an early night in, we knew we had to get up early, however that was not to be...one of my flatmates had to work a night shift, when he got home at around midnight, our gate was closed with a padlock...he honked the horn, he called the security guard's name over and over but nothing worked, he called us then to come and see what was wrong with the security guard, I mean, maybe he was dead! All 4 of us were outside in our pj's trying to wake up the security guard - we needed the keys to the lock after all - but nothing work, the guy would not wake up, not even after having his body shaken like an earthquake! Another guard that lived nearby had to come, climb the fence and get the key in order to let C come in with the car!! I mean, the guy must have been drunk but still, how can someone not wake up through all the noise we made...let alone the fact that he's the security guard, his job IS to stay awake at night!!! We all ended up having a good laugh about it, at least it didn't happen in the morning when we had to go to work!

So, after a restless night, this morning started bright and early at 6am, one good thing about this is that the electricity was still on, it had been a while since I hadn't showered in the dark! By 7am we were at STAE headquarters ready for the big hand-over ceremony where the head of STAE (Technical Secretariat for the Administration of Elections) handed the first ballot box to the Brigada (presiding officer) of the first polling station in Bobonaro district and started the whole process of delivering the ballot boxes to their destinations. We have 68 polling centres and 81 polling stations in Bobonaro and about 40 cars to get the job done!

We started packing the cars at 10am, it started raining so out come the canvas sheets to protect the material. Luckily, it didn't last long and we didn't see anymore rain today which was really, really lucky. The roads, if we can call them that, were terrible, horrible! I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy, that's how bad they were! I did these roads 2 weeks ago when I went in search of gps coordinates...I couldnt' recognize some of them! The rains from this week destroyed some of them, created seas of mud in others and enlarged the already existing holes in all of them!

We went in convoy, with PNTL and UNPOL at the ends to guard the material. I had sensitive material, ballot boxes and cabins and then 6 people on top...I was driving a pick-up and the sensitive material got the place of honour in the back so I had 5 people in the back on top of the material hanging on for dear life against the heart-racing hills, the crevices, the jaw-dropping falls and the wind, it was really windy today! On one up-hill turn the back of the car swerved and I swear I almost thought, 'oh crap, this is it!' The worst was the speed, because we were in a convoy we had to go quite slowly which made it harder to go up hill let alone see the holes in front of you...We were nearly there, I just have a very narrow muddy space in front, the car in front had managed and when it's my turn the car starts to slide into the ditch! I stopped it just in time but we still needed the ropes to get it out! Lucky was that we had about 20 guys to help! C had gotten stuck in the same place the week before but even deeper and there was no other car to help him that time! We got the car out and made it to our first destination, Bobonaro city, then we divided into our separate corners. I was in charge, along with my colleague T, of 3 polling stations: Ilat-Luan, Atuaben and Soelesu. The roads were so bad I was going on first gear all the way and at about 10km an hour!

But we made it! We got all the materials to their destinations, we dropped off the Brigadas and the PNTL that are in charge of protecting the material overnight and we hightailed back to Maliana, which, without a convoy was a breeze!

And through all this we had to communicate to our security base at every stop and every drop-off point: "Sierra Mike Base, this is Echo Mike 144 over", "Echo Mike 144 this is Sierra Mike Base, we hear you loud and clear, say your message over"...After watching so many action movies, this part I really enjoy :p

Tomorrow we go back to our assigned polling stations to pick up the materials after the vote. The voting ends at 3 in the afternoon,.after the votes need to be taken to the polling centres and counted and then the Aktas (official forms with the results for each polling station) need to be sent to Maliana tabulation centre where it is counted up,which means we will probably be driving during the night... then they will be taken to Dili...luckily I'm not in charge of taking these Aktas to Dili otherwise I would be looking at a very long day...the count needs to be done within 72 hours of the finish of voting...meaning some districts will need to travel during the night to reach Dili!

I just keep hoping that it won't rain tomorrow!! Please, please, let the roads be somewhat dry!

Tempers are running high and the pressure is mounting!

We are now E-Day -3!
It has rained more in the last 4 days than in all the time that I have been in Timor Leste, it is still raining...
The rivers are flooding, the roads are being cut off and they are already people being displaced by the water.
And to think that there is a terrible drought in Portugal at the moment!

My first thought back in January, when I was told that the Wet Season went until April, was "Who in their right mind holds presidential elections during the rainy season?" Especially if you consider the limitations of this country, which, unfortunately, are still many. In a developed country this rain would not be considered a problem, the roads would be in perfect condition and communications throughout the country would be stable, not to mention that people would be prepared and organized with a proper contingency plan ready for action if needed. The same is not happening in Timor, much to our frustration and dismay but yet things seem to get done!

As I mentioned in the last post, the chopper had a hard time just getting to Maliana. It didn't make it to the other districts so their ballot papers didn't arrive until Tuesday. We have finally received the last of the materials, including the ink, but only because they were sent by car instead of, as previously planned, by helicopter.

Yesterday, tempers were running high in STAE headquarters in Dili. When the Chairman of STAE was told by the UN that if it keeps raining as it has on  drop-off day and election day - to clarify, all the material has to be sent to the polling stations the day before the elections where they will be guarded through the night by a police officer and they will be picked up again after the end of voting on election day - he flipped! He started saying that if the UN isn't prepared to work with STAE then they should just pack up and leave, that STAE is capable of doing the elections without the help of the UN! In one sense, that's great, the whole purpose of the UN support is to provide ownership of the election process to the country we're assisting, so if they think they can do it without us, wonderful! The problem is that they can't, not just yet anyways! Hopefully these elections will prove that they are ready to be handed the reigns but all the process still came through because of UN support and finance...

We dont understand if it's a question of pride but to me, at least, it seems very unreasonable to think that the UN choppers can fly through tropical rains with 120k winds! They just can't, hence the reason for having contingency plans in the first place...maybe they're just not capable of thinking of different scenarios at the same time, I don't know, it baffles me to be honest!

We're having the same problem at district level. We, the UNVs, have been assigned the two sub-districts that require MOP - authorization from our security officer to travel - to drop off the electoral material and pick them up on election day. We have tried to explain to STAE that if the road conditions are bad, our security officer forbids us to travel and that if we do travel and something happens to us, we will have no insurance or assistance because we disobeyed the rules of UN security. When we talk about security they (STAE) thinks we're talking about violence so they say "It's true the roads are bad, very bad, but there is no problem with security" !! I guess they don't consider the conditions of the roads to be a risk factor when for us that is really the only risk factor that matters!

But the ballot boxes are ready and packed, the ballot papers are here, the ink is here, the cars should be arriving tomorrow - they were supposed to be here today but oh well - the MOPs have been sent in, so now it's just a matter of waiting, doing some night guarding and hoping that it will all work out in the end...

So, honestly, come rain or shine I'm positive these elections will go through, I just don't know what our involvement is going to be... that is, if the roads are closed and our security officer tells us "No!"

I just keep hoping for sun and a lot of it!

And all that is missing is ink...

Today the ballot papers have arrived in Maliana! I say Maliana because I'm not sure if they have made it to any of the other districts other than Dili. After three trips to the helipad we almost thought the chopper wasn't going to make it, between the bureaucracy of getting the material on board and the heavy rain that was threatening to fall at any moment, we held our breaths...But it did arrive, 4 hours late and through the torrential rain we managed to get all our boxes out onto the STAE car, monitored all the time by CNE and accompanied by PNTL (Timor Leste Police Force). The chopper, however, had to wait another couple of hours until the rain subsided to go to the other districts that were still waiting for their ballot papers!

At one point, we even though that the date of the elections would have to be changed. After all, there were 750,000 ballot papers to stamp because of the death of one of the candidates! With the help of young Timorese volunteers and by calling all the troops (STAE) that were nearby back to Dili, STAE was able to stamp out all the papers on time, albeit having to sleep at the headquarters and work through the night in shifts!

I also found myself working at night this past Saturday. We spent all of Saturday filling up the ballot boxes with the non-sensitive material: pens, notebook, stapplers, ink pads, rulers, nails - yes, nails...the voting will be done by nails given the high illiteracy of the country, people will just run a hole through the candidate that they want with the nail... talk about being punched in the face!

So Saturday STAE headquarters had all 405 ballot boxes destined to be sent to the subdistricts and polling stations and polling centres and someone needed to guard them so lucky me, I got the first shift! I was stationed at STAE from 6 'till 9:30pm just watching ballot boxes...did I fail to mention that it was me and another 8 guys! Honestly, I don't really know why they needed me, but at least I had plenty of time to sort out my itunes! I should count myself lucky that there was public electricity and I could spend that time online listening to music, I think I would have gone crazy otherwise! I knew that it was time to call it a night however when the STAE guys decided to put their music at the highest decibel their radio could handle - I don't know if this was to keep them awake through the night or to warn outsiders that there were people there, all I know it scared me away from my guard post!

Now all we're missing is the ink...you may be wondering, what do you need ink for if you've got nails? Well, here, in order to prevent people from voting twice, after they vote they need to dunk their index finger in a pot of indelible ink which proves not only that they have voted but also that they can no longer vote again, it take at least a week for the ink to come off so they are ready for the second round of elections should it come to that! The Timorese are very proud of thei inked fingers and I'm really looking forward to the great photos I'll get with people with their index fingers up :D

All I'm hoping for now is for a really sunny day on the 16th which is when about 40 cars head out of Maliana with all the ballot boxes and voting cabins and material out to each and every polling station and centre in the district of Bobonaro (68 polling centres and 81 polling stations). If it rains like it did today we can say goodbye to the helicopters - we have 6 inaccessible places that NEED helicopter access but if there is inclement weather the chopper won't fly and Plan B and C need to come into action - by foot or by horses!! Horses don't like me so I'm really not looking forward to having to rely on one to get me across!

We have 3 more days of night shifts guarding our precious electoral material. If it has to rain, let it be during these 3 days - just let the chopper land tomorrow so we can get our ink!

News from the eastern front

Here are some news about the future of Timor Leste, in case you're interested...

Australian troops must leave: Ramos-Horta
The Sydney Morning Herald/AAP, 7 March 2012

East Timor's incumbent president Jose Ramos-Horta says he remains firm in the view that Australian and United Nations troops stationed in his country must withdraw before the end of the year.

There are about 400 Australian troops in East Timor as part of an international security force, deployed in the wake of violence which broke out in 2006 and took the tiny country to the brink of civil war.

Along with a contingent of just under 1000 United Nations security personnel, the Australian forces are scheduled to withdraw by the end of the year.

"That's the agreement with the UN Security Council," Dr Ramos-Horta told AAP.

"We will enhance bilateral police agreements for training with regional countries like Australia, Indonesia, Portugal for training."

"But the UN is busy with many other problems around the world. They cannot continue to spend an inordinate amount of resources on East Timor."

Some international observers as well as business owners in East Timor remain concerned about the potential for violence to once again flare up as the country prepares to hold presidential and parliamentary elections.

The first round of the presidential poll will be held on March 17 while elections for the legislature will be held in mid-June.

There are also concerns about the preparedness of the East Timorese security forces to cope following the withdrawal of international forces.

But Dr Ramos-Horta, who is again standing for president, has downplayed the risk of a repeat of the unrest of 2006, and which marred elections in 2007.

The country witnessed violence again in 2008 following assassination attempts against Dr Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

"I am completely reassured about security. I am confident the elections in March and June will go smoothly," he said.

"Our police and the United Nations police are alert all over the country. They have tremendous experience over the years in assessing the situation, in pre-empting any security threats so I am very confident it will be okay."

There are 12 candidates standing in the presidential elections but it's likely the contest will come down to a race between Dr Ramos-Horta, Francisco Guterres from FRETILIN, and Taur Matan Ruak who retired as the head of the country's armed forces in 2011.

If no one gets at least 50 per cent of the vote, there will be a second-round run-off between the top two candidates.

In 2007, Mr Guterres was first in the vote count after the first round but failed to win the presidency after Prime Minister Gusmao's National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor party (CNRT) threw their support behind Dr Ramos-Horta.

However, CNRT has since deserted Dr Ramos-Horta for Mr Ruak, leaving many to believe that the former armed forces chief is now favoured to win the presidency.

Looks likely to be a very exciting campaign, the future of TL is resting on the success of these elections!

1 down, 12 to go...

As I have previously said (I think!), there are 13 candidates for the presidential elections to be held March 17th. Well, yesterday we lost one of them!


Before I go any further, here is a quick list of the candidates and their background (btw, this is the list as it will appear on the ballot paper, the list is sorted through a lottery in order to avoid violence or protesting in relation to the order of the candidates on the list):

1)   Manuel Tilman  - member of parliament and originally from Ainaro; he was relying on the martial arts groups' support but they have declared support for another candidate;

2)   Taur Matan Ruak - known as TMR; he is the formal head of the defence forces and was the most senior military figure in 1999; he has the backing of CNRT (Xanana Gusmao's party) but does not have Xanana Gusmao's backing (official in any case) and is considered to be an inexperienced politician;

3)    Francisco Guterres Lu Olo - current president of FRETILIN and is running as FRETILIN's candidate;

4)   Francisco Xavier do Amaral - he was the proclaimer of independence back in 1975 following a brief civil war and was the first president of Timor Leste (a position he held only for nine days before neighbouring Indonesia invaded the territory, forcing him to flee to the mountains. Amaral fought with the guerrillas from the Falantil, the military wing of the Fretilin party, until he was captured by Indonesian troops in 1979 and taken to Indonesia's Bali island, where he was kept under loose house arrest). He was very sick with cancer and died yesterday at the age of 85. Timor Leste had to change the law due to his candidacy in order to know how to proceed if he died; the not so funny story related to his death, however, is that he was bed-ridden in the hospital on his dying breath when his campaign team forced the doctor to let him leave (unconscious apparently) to attend a campaign meeting, and when he got back to the hospital he was pronounced dead and his campaign team and supporters were so mad at the doctor because he couldn't save him that they threatened to kill him!

5)   Rogerio Lobato -  he was the head of the army back in '75 but was sent abroad before Indonesia invaded; funnily enough, he was in prison in Angola for diamond running; he was the Minister of the Interior with the 1st government; he was involved in the 2006 violence through distribution of arms, a crime which he went to jail for but the current president commutted his sentence; he will mobilize Amaral's supporters;

6)   Maria do Ceu Lopes da Silva - she is an activist candidate but struggle to achieve the 5000 signatures needed to run; some believe she is running to raise her national profile and currently works as a political officer of the Australian Embassy (surely she will have to resign if she wins...);

7)   Angelita Pires - she is a very controversial candidate as she was the girlfriend of the rebel soldier who lead the protest against the army in 2006 (Reinaro); her presence on the list brings up 2006 tensions between East and West;

8)   Jose Ramos Horta - he is the current president; considered an eccentric candidate; he has declared that he will not be physically campaigning and will rely on his record alone (he may not be campaigning but his campaign team is working, there are already posters of him in Bobonaro);

9)    Francisco Gomes - used to be a part of ASDT; originally from Bobonaro but he is a very marginal contender;

10) Jose Luis Guterres - originally from Viqueque; member of FRETILIN-UDANT; considered to be running to raise his political profile and to take votes away from FRETILIN;

11) Abilio Araujo - known for having written the national anthem of Timor Leste; he fell out of FRETILIN because of his proximity to Suhaerto (the Indonesian dictator during the invasion); he refuses to meet with the UN (one of the requirements of the candidacy); he is a businessman and part of the '75 generation;

12) Lucas da Costa - member of PD and director of one Dili's university; originally from Ermera; unlikely to poll;

13) Fernando Lasama - won the district of Bobonaro back in 2007 with 38% (he is campagining fervently here); as the president of the national parliament he is relying on his personal profile; young voters tend to identity with him.

      So, since yesterday's death of Amaral we are now down to 12 candidates!

      Campaigning is in full swing - here, campaigning is only allowed for a period of 2 weeks, that's right, you

      read correctly, 2 weeks!!
      And to think that the US' campaign has been going on for almost a year! This is done so as to avoid violence: the less time people have to get riled up the less riled up they get!
      Again, as I've said previously, Timorese people are ardent voters, they LOVE elections and are very politically conscious so at any instance a campagin can go from peaceful to riotous.

      At the moment we have been busy going around the district giving training to polling staff and distributing

      electoral material to the polling stations and centers and our CNE colleagues have been busy monitoring the candidates' campaigns - making sure that the candidates don't incite violence and that they respect the rules. With 10 days to go until E-Day, the pressure is mounting to have everything ready...if only the

      weather permitted...our road from Maliana to Balibo and Atabae is cut again thanks to landslides due to

      tropical rain showers and we are now facing our third day without electricity in the city, thank goodness for generators and the UN's office!