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):
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;
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;
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;
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.
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!
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