UNEST Newsletter 2010 Issue No. 8 (English) - UNDP Timor-Leste

UNEST Team
Andres del Castillo
Chief Technical Adviser
Dan Radulescu
Project Manager
Vera Monteiro
Coordinator of Electoral Advisors
Karen Kelleher
Graphic Designer
Georgete Gomes
Project Officer
Bernardo Cardoso
Senior Trainer for Political Parties
Antonieta T. Graca Maia
Project Assistant, Political Parties
Euclides Monteiro
Electoral Officer
Caroline Tan
Electoral Officer
Til Subba
Electoral Officer
Kisho Tsuchiya
Electoral Officer
Vicente Ximenes
National Facilitator
Candida Moniz
Project Clerk
Alessandro Righetti
Operations and Logistics Advisor STAE
Diane Cruz Almeida
Adviser for STAE Director
Rodrigo Gambera de Sousa Elias
IT Specialist for STAE
Abdullah Abidin
Electoral IT Advisor for STAE
Marcos T. Clemente
Electoral Logistic Advisor for STAE
Carla Duarte
Public Information & Voter Education Advisor
for STAE
Jose Levi
Administrative Advisor for CNE
Jessie Lagrosas
Electoral IT Advisor for CNE
Raffaele Ditadi
Monitoring Advisor CNE
Albertina Piterbarg
Civic Education & Public Information Advisor
for CNE
Martinho Chachiua
Electoral Management Advisor for CNE
Olga Rabade
Electoral Legal Advisor for CNE
ISSUE 6
The UN Electoral Support Team (UNEST) is an integrated initiative from the UNDP
Support to the Timorese Electoral Cycle Project and the UN Integrated Mission in
Timor-Leste (UNMIT). With more than 30 national and international professionals
and 62 UNVs, UNEST provides the Timor-Leste Electoral Management Bodies, CNE
and STAE, with advisory and support in the areas of Electoral Planning, Legal,
Logistics, Information Technology and Data Base, Civic and Voter Education, Public
Information, Management, Finance, Administration and Graphic Design.
President Jose Ramos Horta congratulates
STAE, CNE and expresses gratitude to the UN
On October 15, the President of the Republic visited the Technical Secretariat
for Electoral Administration (STAE) HQ following the 2009 Community (Suco)
Elections held on October 9. The President took the opportunity to congratulate
STAE for the successful preparation, organization and conduct of the elections
and the National Electoral Commission (CNE) for their efficient supervision of
the electoral processes.
President Horta also congratulated the UN and particularly the UN Electoral
Support Team (UNEST) for the assistance provided throughout the process. In
this context he mentioned that UNEST should continue its support towards the
Municipal (local) elections up to the following the general elections in 2012.
In addition, the President specially mentioned the voter and civic education
campaigns designed and organized by STAE, CNE and supported by UNEST that
aimed to inform and educate voters on the electoral process. President Horta
commended the quality and visibility of the materials utilized in the outreach
activities namely: posters, banners, flyers, newspapers ads which all contributed to
the high voter turnout and good knowledge of the electoral process.
Photo: Carla Duarte/UNEST
Photo: Maria del Huerto/UNEST

Photo: Martine Perret/UNMIT
Photos: Karen Kelleher/UNEST
Photo: Fernanda Pereira/UNEST
STAE Preliminary Results
Based on the provisional results announced by STAE, the national
turnout was 67.75%. Regarding the empowerment of women, 11
females were elected Suco Chief (7 in the previous Suco election),
37 were elected Aldeia Chief (22 previously), 6 were elected representative
of elders (2 previously). In addition, the 3 posts reserved for
women in each Suco Council constitute 1,328 female posts. The total
number of women elected is 1,380, representing 28.29% of the total.
There has been an increase compared with previous elections and the
representation is wider in terms of number of districts. The gender
disaggregated data for the Suco elections provisional results represent
the highest in the South East Asia region for local elections.
CNE Verification of Electoral Documents
On October 13, CNE started the verification of the electoral materials received
from the 13 STAE District Offices. According to the Electoral
Calendar, this important electoral process was scheduled for the period
October 14-20 in order for CNE to assess and verify the sensitive electoral
material received after the completion of the district tabulation process.
On October 17, CNE finalized the verification of all the electoral results in
which were identified discrepancies and/or complaints that in general do
not impact the STAE preliminary results. Subsequently, CNE will send the reports
along with recommendations to the Court of Appeal for final approval
and proclamation of the results. According to the current legislation
(Law 3/2009: Community Leaderships and its Election), the Court of Appeal
has up to 30 days to announce the final results of the elections.
CNE Provisional Results
According to the reports from CNE, the national average of the spoiled
ballots (ballots that contain stray marks or other markings that invalidate
the entire ballot) is 4.2%. As a reference the world average (according to
International IDEA ) is 3.8%. Other countries reported spoiled ballots in
the following averages: France – 4.4%; Italy – 7.2%; Argentina – 21%. In the
region, other averages are: Australia – 4.8%; Indonesia – 3.8%; Fiji – 11.1%
(IDEA). CNE concluded that the voter and civic education campaigns contributed
in informing the population on the polling process and therefore
helped in reducing the number of invalid, spoiled and cancelled ballots.
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Photos: Karen Kelleher/UNEST
Photo: Martine Perret/UNMIT
Electoral Observers Reports
On October 12, Asia Foundation organized an international observers' debriefing
with the participation of electoral observers and representatives
from the Australian Embassy, IRI, IFES and IPAS. According to Asia Foundation
observations, it was a peaceful process, well organized by STAE, with no serious
issues or critical problems detected. This view of the October 9
Community Elections was also shared by all the other participants.
The observers also mentioned some of the main challenges of the process
such as:
• Long queue lines in some locations due to the difficulties that some Polling
Officers met handling the voter’s list and checking the names.
• Inking and checking the finger process could be better coordinated in
future elections.
• Some candidates’ agents showed a limited understanding of their role.
UNEST announced activities for the Post
Electoral Period
The electoral process for the 2009 Community Elections will not be
finalized until the Court of Appeal validates and announces the final results.
These processes will be followed by the post-electoral voter/civic education
campaign “Back to our Suco” and at headquarters level archiving and
inventorying documents, sensitive electoral materials and equipment.
In addition, the period from now until the end of 2009 will be utilized to
organize and conduct de-briefing sessions at different levels and to identify
best practices and lessons learned for future electoral processes.
The main activities that UNEST will perform until the December 31 include:
1. Supporting CNE in the tabulation/verification of electoral packages:
October 12 – 22.
2. Supporting STAE in the district capitals to review inventories of electoral
materials: October 12 – 22.
3. STAE General debriefing: October 16.
4. UN EST general debriefing: October 23 – 26.
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5. Workshop preparation for the National Vox Populi
process of voter knowledge.
6. Post -electoral Voter/Civic Education Campaign in
districts “back to the Suco level”: November 1- 15.
7. Electoral International Seminar (CNE, STAE, AECID
and UNEST), November 19-20, and;
8. National Vox Populi process of voter knowledge
(data collection) November 15 - December 15.
Photo: Karen Kelleher/UNEST
UNEST GENERAL OBJECTIVES
• To enhance capacity of the National Electoral
Management Bodies (STAE and CNE) to fulfill
their administrative and supervisory mandates
and organize and conduct free and fair elections.
• To support electoral processes and the revision
of the legal framework.
• To enhance participation and credible elections.
• To assist and support in the development of the
political parties capacity.
• To support the implementation of comprehensive
public awareness strategy focused on civic
and voter education.
• To promote gender equality and empowerment
in the electoral processes.
Photos: Karen Kelleher/UNEST
Photo: Meire de Castro Alves/UNEST
Photos: Karen Kelleher/UNEST
Photo: Martine Perret/UNMIT
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