[Kabar-indonesia] SOMET: Report on the first round of Timor's Presidential Election

[John M Miller]

Report of the Solidarity Observer Mission for East Timor (SOMET)

On the first round of the Timor-Leste 2007 Presidential Elections

Contacts: In Timor-Leste: Jill Sternberg SOMET 
Office HAK Association building Avenida Gov. 
Serpa Rosa, Farol, Dili, Timor-Leste Tel. 
+670-331-3324 or +670-734-2535 email: somet at etan.org

International: John M. Miller East Timor and 
Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) PO Box 21873, 
Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA Tel. +1-718-596-7668 
Fax: +1-718-222-4097 email: etan at igc.org

Website: www.etan.org/somet.htm

Executive summary

18 April 2007  - The 2007 Presidential election 
is the first national election conducted by the 
independent state of Timor-Leste. Twelve 
observers from the Solidarity Observer Mission 
for East Timor (SOMET) visited 52 polling 
stations in the districts of Dili, Liquica and 
Ermera during the first round of voting on 9 
April. SOMET finds the elections to be free and 
fair. We believe the results reflect the wishes of the citizens of the country.

While the majority of both polling staff and 
voters were familiar with voting procedures, we 
observed a number of minor irregularities. 
Infractions of the measures to prevent double 
voting were the most prevalent and serious technical violations.

Candidate and party agents and `party observers' 
were a dominant feature of many polling stations. 
We observed many more agents than were legally 
allowed, and they often engaged in inappropriate 
actions and/or concealed their identities.

Polling station staff did a laudable job in 
making the counting process transparent. However, 
we noted several violations of regulations, such 
as sensitive materials left unguarded and 
improper or inefficient counting of ballots. In 
many cases, we also witnessed confusion about the 
criteria for declaring ballots invalid.

We also observed several infractions of the 
previously announced procedure for the deployment 
of police and international military forces near polling stations.

On the basis of our observations, the SOMET 
mission recommends improvements in eight areas.

1. Future elections should be administered by an 
independent agency, outside the jurisdiction of any Government ministry.

2. We recommend a clear and consistent regulatory 
framework for elections. Any amendments to laws, 
regulations, codes of conduct or training 
materials and instructions should be made in good 
time, be internally consistent and be 
communicated to all involved in the electoral process.

3. We recommend that provisions be made for 
absentee voting for hospital patients, prisoners, 
the home bound and Timor-Leste citizens abroad.

4. We recommend that the rights and privileges of 
candidate and party agents be legally regulated; 
that their numbers be limited to one per 
candidate per polling station at any one time; 
that polling center staff be empowered to enforce 
regulations relating to agents; and that the 
anomalous positions of `party observer' and `livre access' be abolished.

5. We recommend that polling stations have more 
and adequately paid polling staff. Further 
instructions and training should focus on key 
tasks, such as checking voters' fingers for ink, 
providing guidance to voters and safeguarding sensitive materials.

6. We recommend that all counting of ballots be 
done according to the counting regulations. 
Ballots should be accepted as valid if the intention of the voter is clear.

7. We recommend that police and military forces 
abide by transparent regulations governing their deployment.

8. We recommend that all commentators accurately 
represent the election process, especially after the voting.

Finally, we remind all officials involved in 
administering elections that international and 
national observers should have free access to all polling stations.

Solidarity Observer Mission for East Timor (SOMET)

The Solidarity Observer Mission for East Timor 
(SOMET), a non-partisan observer mission for the 
2007 elections, observed the 9 April 2007 
Presidential elections in three districts of 
Timor-Leste. This report details our observations 
from this first round of the elections and makes 
recommendations for future improvements of 
electoral practice. SOMET will continue to 
observe and report on the second round of the 
Presidential elections on 9 May and on the 
Parliamentary elections to be held on 30 June 2007.

On polling day SOMET dispatched twelve 
accredited, nonpartisan observers to 52 polling 
stations in Dili, Liquiça and Ermera districts to 
observe the voting and tabulation process. Our 
observers, of eight different nationalities, were 
Ernest Chamberlain, Christian Donn, Craig Hughes, 
Jaana Karhilo, Ruby Rose Lora, Catharina Maria, 
Joerg Meier, Veronica Pais, Charles Scheiner, 
Susan Severin, Santina Soares and Jill Sternberg.

SOMET was created by the international solidarity 
movement for Timor-Leste in response to requests 
from several civil society organizations in 
Timor-Leste to work in partnership with 
nonpartisan Timorese and other international 
observers to support an election process which is 
transparent, free and fair. All SOMET observers 
follow a code of conduct that stresses our 
non-partisanship and neutrality. We act in an 
independent manner, not supporting any parties or 
candidates. Nonpartisanship does not, however, 
mean indifference or passivity towards injustice 
or towards violations of any individual's basic human rights.

SOMET is a grassroots project of the U.S.-based 
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), 
Stichting Vrij Oost Timor (VOT) of the 
Netherlands, Initiatives for International 
Dialogue (IID) and the Asia Pacific Solidarity 
Coalition (APSOC) based in the Philippines, and 
World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA). 
In Timor-Leste, SOMET cooperates with Asosiasaun 
HAK, Timor-Leste NGO Forum, La'o Hamutuk, FOKUPERS and Bibi Bulak.

The full report can be found in english at 
http://etan.org/etanpdf/2007/SOMET%20Report%2018%20April.pdf 
and in Tetum at 
http://etan.org/etanpdf/2007/SOMET%20Report%2018%20AprillTetum.pdf