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 and UNAMET’s Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. Jeff Fischer.
IM: Good Afternoon. The main purpose of this press conference is to present to you the results of the registration of voters, but I will also be happy to answer your question on other subjects, including my meeting with Foreign Minister Alatas this morning. We will begin with Mr. Jeff Fischer, our Chief Electoral Officer, who will be presenting to you the outcome of the registration.
JF: Thank you very much. I would like to begin by providing some background for the registration process. I will share with you some overall statistics regarding the process, and then highlight some special considerations that we had to deal with during the process. At the conclusion of this news conference we have a handout that will provide you with these details.
As far as background is concerned, the voter registration procedures for this popular consultation were organized to provide a maximum inclusiveness and flexibility, inclusiveness and flexibility within the context of an agreement and a working environment, which impose both constraints on access and movement. The elements of this inclusiveness and flexibility were reflected in the basic provision that allowed people to register to vote from their homes, register to vote from where they were located presently, or choose some alternative site where they felt safe and secure to register.
These registration activities took place at 200 centres located within East Timor and in 13 registration centres external to East Timor. As you are aware, registration closed yesterday in East Timor, but will continue for one additional day and conclude Sunday at 4:00 p.m. local time in the external centres. It must be understood that all of the registration statistics presented are preliminary, subject to review for duplicates, challenges and hearings.
The preliminary figures show that 433,576 individuals registered within East Timor and 12,680 have thus far registered outside of East Timor, bringing a total of 446,256 registrants. Of these there were a total of 913 rejections. By and large the principal reason for rejection were because of underage registrants.
We wanted to offer in this registration process special enfranchisement opportunities for certain groups. I would like to just touch on a few of these groups for your background.
Obviously, the first group is displaced persons. Our interest in enfranchising displaced persons was reflected in our actions to bolster the capacity of identified registration sites where we believe displaced persons would attempt to register. We approached this by establishing two priorities for these registration centres. For six registration centres we actually added teams of District Electoral Officers in order to increase the process and capacity.
In a second priority we identified 30 registration sites where we bolstered these sites with additional materials. In another category we worked to enfranchise prisoners. We directed an inquiry to the Ministry of Justice about how we might go about offering this enfranchisement to prisoners. Although these are preliminary figures we have a total of 272 prisoners within East Timor we have calculated to have registered.
We also had during the course of these 22 days a number of closings of registration centres. However, it should be noted that the sole reason for the closing of any registration centre was for security concerns. No centre stayed closed for more than a single day. Some centres were only closed for a number of hours. We lost fewer than 20 registration days total as a result of security closures [out of a total of 4,400 registration days – 200 centres x 22 days].
I have also included with this packet a calendar to show the next steps in the registration process. For those 913 individuals, whose registrations were rejected, there is an appeal process that will conclude today for those in East Timor and on Monday for those outside of East Timor so that they can have a hearing on those rejections.
Additionally, the registration forms are currently being data processed, sorted and organized so that they can be presented for exhibition.
There will be an opportunity for voters to check the list to assure that their names appear on it and that the information is correct. It will be an opportunity for voters to review the list and challenge the appearance of names they do not feel are qualified electors on the list. This will be followed by a period of time for the independent electoral commission to hear these challenges and make a final decision and certification of the voters’ list. This will be the final list that will be used for the purposes of polling day.
That represents an overview of the 22-day process where we have come to at this point and where we are going over the next two and one half weeks. I will be happy to answer any questions.
Question & Answer:
Q: Do you have the numbers by district?
JF: Yes. In the handout we have broken out the registration figures on both a daily basis, so that you can see the cumulative totals daily, and by regency and externally.
Q: Is there any relationship between the areas of major violence and the places where people turned up to register?
JF: Obviously, if a registration is closed no–one is registering on that day. In my preliminary read of these figures I don’t see a relationship between where areas of violence occurred and where the turnout of voters occurred.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) The Indonesian Government, through Minister Alatas, suggested that the results of the vote should be announced at least within a week after the vote. Do you have comment on that?
JF: It would be our hope that the vote could be tabulated within several days and the results certified within a week or so of polling day.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Approximately on what date will the results be announced?
JF: Well, if it is about a week after polling day, perhaps around the 7th or 8th of September.
IM: But that should not be taken as a definite date. We are talking about around the week. The Minister asked that we should be better than the National Election Commission, and I promised him that we would. [laughter] Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) What about the appeals process?
JF: The appeals process concerns the rejections of applications at the registration site. As I explained, these were largely for reasons for under-aged individuals attempting to register. These are being heard by regional election officers at the regional centres. Today I am unaware of any rejections that have been overturned.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) What about people who aren’t from East Timor, for instance the refugees. Is the process the same for them?
JF: Yes it is. In locations outside of East Timor the external-voting officers will hear the claims.
Q: Did UN polling staff encounter much evidence of fraudulent documentation?
JF: We did encounter some examples of this, in particular at one of the sites in the Batugade area we encountered some problems with documents, which we viewed as suspect. In some cases these individuals applications were rejected. I hold the option open to be able to review some other applications, as well, during the challenge process to assure that these registrations were appropriate.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Minister Ali Alatas said that regardless of the outcome of the popular consultation that the Indonesian Parliament would still have the right, according to Parliament resolution number six of 1976, regarding East Timor’s integration into Indonesia.
IM: It has always been understood that the outcome of the popular consultation is then to be reflected in necessary changes in Indonesian legislation. But Indonesia as a State is committed to implement the outcome of the popular consultation.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Of the refugees that were staying in West Timor and who are eligible to vote, were they all able to register?
JF: From the registration figures, that you will see in your handout, I have to conclude that not only from the perspective of eligible East Timorese in West Timor, but as a general rule, those who were interested in registering had the opportunity to do so. Although you will be able to read this for yourself, I would just like to share with you the general figures for the last four days to illustrate this point.
The last four days of registration the turnout declined as follows: 17,410, down to 11,515, down to on the two additional extended days, first 3,415, concluding with 3,149. These figures suggest that the demand was being satisfied.
Q: Can you tell us about your meeting with Mr. Alatas this morning and what you discussed?
IM: Yes certainly. As you can imagine, we began by reviewing the information we just reviewed with you – the successful outcome of the registration process. The Government had been amongst those who had urged us to extend the process somewhat further.
But the Minister seemed rather satisfied with the action we had taken and with the indication that it had given a good opportunity for almost everybody to register. We discussed UNAMET’s continuing security concerns, of which the three incidents that took place in the last two days of registration are illustrations.
These indicate in our view that sufficient action has still not been taken to prevent violent action by militia groups. We then went on to discuss the United Nations presence after the ballot and the ways in which the United Nations and the Indonesian authorities would need to work well together in order to maintain security after the ballot. That is to be the subject of detailed discussions in Jakarta next week. Those were the principal subjects of our discussions.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Why has the code of conduct for the campaign, governing both parties to the conflict, not been issued yet?
IM: The United Nations drew up a proposed code of conduct some time ago and made it available to the political groups on both sides of the question. It took a little time for them to provide us with their comments, but in the last few days we have been able to review those with them. We have another meeting at 5:00 p.m. today and we are very close to agreement, which I hope will enable us to make available the code of conduct early next week.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) What about the people that are in quite isolated areas, do you think that they will be able to take part in the campaign and they will be able to be reached and have a full understanding of the subject?
IM: The high registration that suggest that even though people have had to come long distances in some case they are enthusiastic to be involved in the consultation. Obviously, UNAMET will do its best through its public information campaign to inform them further in the remaining period. It will be up to the political groups to do the same through their own networks.
Q: Did you receive any guarantees from General Wiranto or Minister Alatas that they would try to end the violence and intimidation from militia?
IM: I did not meet with General Wiranto today, but in the meeting with Minister Alatas he indeed asked members of the Task Force to convey our concerns to General Wiranto. Of course we will be following them up here with the senior military and police officials with whom we are in regular contact.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Where will the counting of votes take place?
IM: Here in Dili. With the exceptions of the votes cast at the external centres, which will be counted in those countries and relayed to Dili. But all the votes cast in any part of East Timor will be brought to Dili and counted at one counting centre here.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Is UNAMET prepared so that there won’t be any need for a delay of the voting on August the 30th?
IM: Yes we are. We have got a very tight schedule now, especially because of the extension in the registration period, but it is technically feasible. We are committed to keeping to the polling day of the 30th of August, even though that means that our electoral staff are going to go on working day and night seven days a week. Perhaps having said that, you would allow me to congratulate them publicly on having done that continuously for a 22-day period, and also express appreciation for all the other UNAMET staff, the Civilian Police and others, who supported them in that.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Has UNAMET announced or issued the logo that will be used on the ballot paper?
IM: Again, this is the subject of final discussions with the parties.
Q: (from Bahasa Indonesian) Of the 913 people who were rejected you mentioned that age was one of the main considerations. What about people from outside East Timor who are married with East Timorese but were married with a traditional ceremony and do not have a marriage certificate and only hold a family card?
JF: We required a certain level of documentation in order to prove identity and eligibility in this process. Any definition of spousal relationships required some form of documentation in order to prove it. If traditional ceremonies were not able to produce this documentation it could not be recognized for these purposes. I am not familiar with any particular case where someone was rejected on those grounds, however.
Q: What measures are being considered by the UN for the post-ballot phase to avoid the political vacuum that happened in 1975?
IM: Following the Dare II meeting, we are continuing informal discussions with political leaders on both sides to try to ensure that both sides are committed to accept either outcome, and also to make sure that they will exert their leadership over their supporters in the days after the ballot to avoid trouble. At the same time, as far as a security responsibility is concerned, while that remains with the Indonesian security forces, the United Nations Civilian Police will be working closely with the Indonesian police and our Military Liaison Officers with the TNI. Our discussions in Jakarta next week I hope will represent further progress to drawing up such plans. Thank you.
