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!
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!
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