Briefing by the Special Representative, 4 August 1999 Briefing by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Ian Martin Wednesday, 4 August 1999

This is a near verbatim transcript of the briefing given at UNAMET Headquarters, Dili, East Timor, by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Mr. Ian Martin.

IM: Good Morning. First I want to give you the latest registration figures that we have. These are the figures up to and including Monday, 2 August. The total figure, including external voting locations, is 410,556. The figure in East Timor alone passed the 400,000 mark and is 400,314. As it stands now, we don’t have precise figures from yesterday yet, but I am sure that with yesterday’s figures the total in East Timor will be approaching 420,000.

Although that is an extremely satisfactory overall number, UNAMET wants to be sure that everybody has the best possible opportunity to register. The Secretary-General has approved a recommendation from UNAMET that registration in East Timor should be kept open for two more full days so that registration will now close at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, the 6th of August. I would also like to stress that anybody who is in line at the registration centre at 4:00 p.m. on Friday would be registered. We have to keep registration centres open to make sure that they are registered. Registration at the external voting locations, where some people certainly have more difficulty presenting themselves on a weekday, will be kept open until Sunday, the 8th of August. So, that is a four-day extension in voting at external locations. And of course it applies at all external locations in Indonesia, Portugal, Australia and elsewhere.

Those extensions of registration do not effect the date of the ballot. The date of the ballot will still be the 30th of August. These are in effect the maximum additional extensions that are technically feasible while keeping to the ballot date of 30th of August as we and others are anxious to do. So, I would particularly welcome your giving the maximum publicity to this announcement and to these dates because we want those who are eligible, who have not yet have had the opportunity to register, to know that they have this additional opportunity. Indeed, we want to register the maximum number by the time we do close registration. I will be happy to answer your questions.

Question & Answer:

Q: Does this extension effect the start of the campaign period?

IM: No, I don’t think so. We need to have further discussions with the political groups. I had a meeting with the political groups before this decision was taken to consult them, and we are also now in consultation with them about the campaign period. I don’t think this will effect the opening of the campaign period.

Q: Can you confirm what the first day of the campaign period is?

IM: I actually do need to have a word with the Chief Electoral Officer before confirming that. I am sorry, we will get it to you.

Q: Which groups of people are you concerned might not have registered yet?

IM: As you know, one of our major concerns has been for people who have been internally displaced. The indications are that very good proportions of the internally displaced have presented themselves, either by going back to their home areas and registering there, and in some cases registering in Dili or at other locations where they have been displaced.
Certainly I think an extension of the period will be useful to make sure that the maximum number of IDPs have registered. We have made special arrangements, as you know, to reinforce registration centres near the border with West Timor, so that people who are eligible in West Timor can present themselves there. Not very large numbers have done so yet, but there may be additional people eligible to come from there. In general, this gives everybody a further opportunity.

I should just say, on the question of the numbers, none of us really knew what numbers we were heading for, because we are talking about an eligible population who do not correspond to the electorate for Indonesian elections. It was impossible to know how far those who registered for Indonesian elections represented the full number of eligible East Timorese. The fact that we surpassed the estimate of 400,000 is just an indication of the enthusiasm of people to participate in this popular consultation.

Q: Are you confident that most of the IDPs will be able to register by Friday?

IM: I am pretty confident of that now.

Q: Have you seen any signs that the TNI are sincere in its efforts to end the climate of fear, intimidation and killing?

IM: Yesterday I was in Maliana discussing the security situation in Bobonaro, which is one of the districts where we have continued to be most concerned about the security situation. We are still pressing for action to be taken where there are indications where specific TNI officers have continued to be involved in militia activities. Although there has been an improvement in many parts of the Territory, that is a pressure that we are certainly keeping up.

Q: Improved enough for a free and fair ballot?

IM: Well, we want to see further improvement, especially before the campaign period begins, and we are making that clear. What is already clear is that it hasn’t deterred people from registering to vote, and that is encouraging.

Q: Is there any concern given the large number of people who have registered, that there are a number of bogus registrations included in that?

IM: We do not have any reason to think that is the case. District Electoral Officers have been quite satisfied with the indications of eligibility of people who have presented themselves. As you know, we have a number of safeguards. We have the computer run to eliminate any possible double registration. We have the period when lists are displayed and challenges can be made to be ruled on by the Electoral Commission. So, there are those further safeguards against fraud and there is the use of ink [invisible] on polling day as a further safeguard against any possibility against double voting. But so far we are pretty confident of the integrity of the register that is being produced.

Q: Given the secrecy of the process and the care that has been taken not to identify voters, isn’t this display of a registered voters list throwing that all away?

IM: I don’t think so. Since the indications are that almost everybody has registered, and that includes people on both sides of the issue, I don’t see that the display of voter lists in itself should put people at risk.

Q: Are you disappointed by the low turnout of registrants in the external registration centres?

IM: I do not think we had any real way of knowing what the numbers of people that were potentially eligible were. I do not think we are working against any particular estimates in those cases. All we can do is give people the opportunity.

Q: Yesterday prisoners were registered in Becora. Does that create a precedent for mobile polling, particularly regarding FALINTIL?

IM: No, we do not think that that opens a kind of Pandora’s Box of mobile voting, because that would be really quite impractical and impractical to decide where to draw the line. There is a very clear distinction between people who are incarcerated and quite clearly not able to present themselves at a registration centre and others. But it is not practically feasible for us to start sending mobile teams to register, let alone to enable people to vote on polling day, on a larger scale. Q: Are there any indications that FALINTIL members are registering to vote?

IM: Yes, it is clear that members of FALINTIL have presented themselves at a number of registration centres and have been registered. Again, I cannot say in what numbers, because, as you know, people do not come in uniform and do not carry weapons to our registration centres. We do certainly know that significant numbers of members of FALINTIL have registered.

Q: You said it is not practical and feasible. Is that because of practical reasons or is there another reason why you cannot have mobile voter registration, because I do understand that some groups of FALINTIL are not going to register because they cannot get to registration centres?

IM: Firstly, there is no equitable basis on which you could decide where you move to and which groups you try to accommodate in that way. But also, yes, it is simply not within the resources we have. Especially it would not be possible when one comes to polling. Remember that people are expected to have to vote where they registered. While we may, in the late stages of the registration process, have some spare capacity where registration has dropped off at some centres, our resources are going to be extremely strained on the day of the ballot itself. We are looking at having to bring in extra personnel given the numbers that are now registered.

Q: Are you satisfied that there is no campaigning going on already?

IM: It is a hard line to draw between legitimate preparations for campaigning, freedom of expression and real full-scale campaigning. We have been very concerned, particularly when UNAMET first arrived here, at pro-autonomy campaigning in full swing with official involvement and the use of public finds. We made strong representations about that and those representations have certainly had an effect, both in forms of instructions that have been given and in our observation in the field.
Certainly there is still some campaigning going on, but I think that the campaign period should even that situation.We are having discussions with the political groups now as to how the campaign period itself should both be reasonably controlled and give a fair opportunity to both sides.

Q: Human rights groups have evidence that the Indonesian Government has asked for East Timorese soldiers and civil servants to give their registration numbers to their bosses, and they say this could be some form of intimidation. Do you know about this?

IM: I do not have that information, but the ballot will be fully secret. It does not matter who somebody is, and it does not matter whether somebody knows his or her registration number or not. There will be no way that anybody can know how somebody has voted on polling day.

Q: Do you think it is feasible to have a free and fair vote when the leader of one side is incarcerated 2,000 miles from the site of the vote?

IM: The United Nations has made clear its position that it believes that Mr. Xanana Gusmao should be released and we hope that that may still be decided before the ballot. Q: Has the code of conduct for campaigning been agreed upon yet?

IM: We are in the late stages of consulting the political groups, because the agreement says that that is drawn up by the UN in consultation with the two sides. I have a further meeting with them tonight and I hope that will result in its finalization and we will then be able to make it public.

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