IEC OPENS POLLING TO THOSE ELIGIBLE BUT NOT ON VOTING LIST

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced today that any eligible voter whose name does not appear on the IEC’s voting list, but who has proof of having registered during the Civil Registration process, will be able to vote in the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections.

This change in the polling procedure follows the discovery that some 28,000 people who examined the voter list during the Exhibition and Challenge period that ended 27 July could either not find their names on the list, or found that their registration data had been entered incorrectly.

The IEC’s Chief Electoral Officer Carlos Valenzuela said today that the IEC had launched a “mass verification and correction exercise” after determining that, due primarily to computer problems during the Civil Registration process, there were eligible voters whose names did not appear on the list.

“By all standards the results of Exhibition and Challenge were a success…233,450 people checked whether they were included in the voters list,” Valenzuela said, adding that “The [IEC] Commissioners expressed their appreciation and admiration to the people of East Timor…appreciation for their patience, and admiration for their obvious eagerness to participate in the elections.”

More than 28,000 people who had registered during the Civil Registration exercise completed forms to request that their names be added to the list, or for data to be changed, and thus far roughly half this number have been added to the voter list on the basis of claim forms submitted. The IEC anticipates that the final voters roll will contain over 400,000 names.

Constituent Assembly elections will take place on 30 August 2001. Voters will elect an assembly that will be composed of 88 members: 13 will represent each of East Timor’s districts; the remaining 75 will be allocated to parties and independent candidates based on a nation-wide proportional representation system.

The IEC will soon be widely distributing full color posters showing the ballots that will be used in each district to show the parties’ and candidates’ symbols.

FORCE COMMANDER EXTENDS CONDOLENCES TO TNI COMMANDER

The Force Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in East Timor has expressed regret over the death of an Indonesian soldier during a 28 July incident along the border that separates East Timor and West Timor.

Force Commander Lieutenant General Boonsrang Niumpradit contacted Major General William da Costa, the Udayana (Bali and West Timor) military commander, to extend his condolences over the death of First Sgt. Lirman Hadimu.

The Force commander’s statement follows an incident on Saturday when United Nations Peacekeeping troops on patrol along the border four kilometers southwest of Tilomar took cover after a shot was fired at them by an armed man dressed in civilian clothes.

The patrol team belonging to the New Zealand Battalion returned fire and immediately moved to a secure position.

An investigation has been launched into the incident.

REVENUE AND CUSTOMS SERVICE LAUNCH FIRST JOINT TAX RAID

The East Timor Transitional Administration’s Commissioner of Taxation today announced that the Revenue and Customs Services were launching joint operations in order to crack down on those violating tax and customs laws.

Commissioner of Taxation Thomas Story said today that the first joint action took place on 21 July, when East Timor Revenue Service (ETRS) and Customs officials raided a prominent international business in Dili where it was suspected that taxation records were being altered or destroyed for the purpose of tax evasion.

The identity of the business was not disclosed due to secrecy provisions.

This joint operation was conducted within hours of a new regulation coming into force that permits the Customs and Revenue services to share information.

“This raid proceeded satisfactorily and we have taken away a lot of information that will assist us with our enquiries,” Story said.

Ken Biser, Acting Border Services Controller, said that in the future there will be more opportunities for joint staff training, shared information technology platforms and co-location of Customs and Tax officers in some districts.

“We will be exploring ways to make use of the new information-sharing powers in the interests of improved compliance with tax and customs laws,” he added.

As of June 2001, US$28 million have been collected in taxes and other revenues.

HUNDREDS TURN OUT AT VIQUEQUE RECONCILIATION CEREMONY

An estimated 600 people turned out at a reconciliation meeting in Viqueque town on Saturday to heal divisions caused by fighting between two martial arts groups in March that came to involve a number of villages, resulted in the burning of more than 30 houses, and left two people dead.

Representatives of some 65 villages attended the ceremony, which combined a traditional act of reconciliation between warring communities, a mass conducted by Bishop of Baucau Basilio do Nascimento, and the swearing of a solemn oath.

Bishop Nascimento said it was the first time in East Timor’s history that a reconciliation event of this magnitude had taken place.

The climax of the ceremony was the ritual sacrifice of a bullock at which the martial arts’ representatives swore that they would suffer the same fate if they repeated the events of last March.

UNTAET’s Chief of Political Affairs Andrew Whitley represented SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello at the event. Also present were Florindo Pereira, Cabinet Member for Internal Administration, and Brigadier General Alfredo Assunção on behalf of the Peacekeeping Force.

In related news, an estimated 2,500 people attended a “Peace and Democracy Sunday” rally in Baucau city at which party representatives reaffirmed their adherence to the Pact of National Unity.

At least ten political parties took part in the event, which was featured a mass led by Bishop Nascimento, and youth choirs, rock bands and other artistic performances focusing on Civic Education themes.

The Pact of National Unity featured prominently in the Bishop’s mass, with representatives of the political parties present pledging allegiance to the pact in front of the crowd. The pact, signed on July 8 by fourteen of the sixteen political parties registered in the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections, binds the signatories to a set of principles relating to the upcoming electoral process. It includes calls for the support, respect and dissemination of the principle of non-violence; the unconditional acceptance of the 30 August 1999 Popular Consultation results; and the respect of the results of the Constituent Assembly elections.