East Timor: Elections were ‘free and fair’ – observers

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East Timor: Elections were ‘free and fair’ – observers

9:48 CAT | 16 May 2018

Last Saturday’s general elections in East Timor were “efficiently administered” and met “international standards of free and fair elections,” according to the preliminary assessment of observers from the International Republican Institute (IRI) issued on Tuesday.

The assessment was included in a short preliminary summary of the team of about 20 short- and long-term observers who monitored the elections, won by the opposition coalition Alliance of Change for Progress (AMP), with a majority of 34 seats in the parliament of 65.

“The 12 May parliamentary elections were efficiently administered and met international standards of free and fair elections,” the report said.

Cited in the document, IRI delegation officials Randy Scheunemann and Bruce Edwards stressed that the vote was held in a “peaceful, yet energetic atmosphere” with only “minor incidents reported during the campaign period.”

These incidents “did not affect the election,” the international observers said.

In particular, IRI said that the two electoral bodies, the Technical Secretariat of the Electoral Administration (STAE) and the National Electoral Commission (CNE), were “professional and dedicated” both during the campaign and on voting day.

“After the experience of the 2017 presidential and parliamentary elections, STAE and CNE have remained efficient and impartial, following the defined procedures,” it said.

“IRI observers noted that polling stations were orderly and the voting was peaceful and generally well-organised, despite minor procedural irregularities,” they said.

The IRI team included 18 short-term observers, who followed the polling at 112 polling stations as part of US support for the Timorese electoral process and efforts to ensure “a free, fair and peaceful electoral environment.”

Three long-term observers were also deployed in the country, who took part in almost 160 meetings in 13 Timorese municipalities.

A source from the Australian embassy in Dili told Lusano decision had been made on whan the report of the observers who monitored the vote will be released.

The Australian and US delegations were the largest to monitor the election.

Source: Lusa