VOTE COUNTING GETS UNDERWAY FOLLOWING ASSEMBLY ELECTION

Vote-counting got underway in East Timor this morning the day after the country’s first democratic elections.

“Step by step, we are approaching the day when the East Timorese will know the result of their common decision on who will be the 88 representatives in developing the basic law of an independent and democratic East Timor,” Carlos Valenzuela, Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission, said this evening.

The estimated turnout at yesterday’s polling is estimated to be at 91 percent of the eligible electorate, with the highest number of voters – 94.3 percent – casting their ballots in Ermera district. The lowest turnout was in Dili district – 87.1 percent – but Dili nonetheless produced the highest absolute number of voters, with 70, 136 ballots issued.

Carlos Valenzuela said this evening that counting had been proceeding smoothly with no reported problems. Ballot boxes were last night securely transported from individual polling stations and gathered at the 13 district electoral centers.

In the first stage of the process, electoral workers are reconciling the number of ballots inside each box with polling records in order to guard against ballot box stuffing. This process is being carried out with the ballots face-down, so voting choices are not revealed. The ballots from different polling centers will next be mixed together in order to ensure that no-one will be able to tell which polling center any particular ballots came from. Counting will then begin on batches of 2,000 mixed ballots.

The European Union Election Observation mission today held a press conference at which they praised the East Timorese for turning out to vote in such heavy numbers, and said the polling process had been carried out in conformance with the highest standards. The EU and the European Parliament deployed the largest single contingent of observers to East Timor for the elections.

The results of the count in each district will be made public when they are complete. The first partial results are expected on 3 September, and an unofficial result could be completed by 5 September. After a period in which parties and candidates can file challenges and the examination of those challenges, the IEC Board of Commissioners will present the results to SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello on 10 September.

The new 88-member Consitutent Assembly, the body which will write East Timor’s first constitution, will be sworn in on 15 September.

Please find attached the UNTAET Fact Sheet #18, “Counting Process.”

SRSG: AUSTRALIA RULES OUT SENDING REFUGEES TO EAST TIMOR

SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello said today that he had been informed by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that Canberra was no longer considering East Timor as a possible destination point for the refugees currently moored off Australia’s Christmas Island aboard the MV Tampa.

“I received a call from Foreign Minister Downer yesterday asking us to consider the possibility of allowing these asylum seekers to disembark in East Timor. I told him that I would consult with the East Timorese as well as UNHCR, since UNHCR is the main UN player in these questions. But in the meantime, and this is information I received [at about 6 p.m], I have been informed by Minister Downer that the East Timor option, which was being looked at among others, will not be pursued any longer,” the SRSG told the press in Dili.

PEACEKEEPING FORCES STAGE HANDOVER PARADE

The Peacekeeping Forces in East Timor today staged a handover parade marking the transfer of command from Force Commander Lt-Gen Boonsrang Niumpradit of Thailand, to Force Commander Lt-Gen Winai Phattiyakul, also from Thailand.

A group of soldiers representing the 29 countries that are contributing soldiers or military observers to East Timor marched past the viewing stand at which Lt-Gen Boonsrang symbolically passed the UN flag to his successor.

In a speech, Lt-Gen Boonsrang praised the East Timorese for their “hearts of gold and spirits of steel,” and expressed his conviction that they could move into the future with confidence.

In comments earlier this week, Special Representative for the Secretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello said, “General Boonsrang Niumpradit has demonstrated the best qualities we expect of a blue beret…He leaves a job well done.”

“Under his command, UNTAET’s military has been singularly successful in achieving its core mandate: establishing, maintaining, and entrenching stability and peace in this country,” the SRSG added.

Lt-General Boonsrang took up his command in July of last year. His successor is on leave from his post as Director of Joint Intelligence in the Supreme Command Headquarters of the Thai Defence Ministry. A 1969 graduate of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in Thailand, he has also received training at the United States Army’s Command and General Staff College and holds several Thai military honors.