2017 East Timor presidential elections

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António da Conceição's election campaign event in Gleno . The spectators wave flags of the parties PD, PLP and KHUNTO

The 2017 presidential elections in East Timor regularly determined the head of state of the Southeast Asian country. They took place on March 20, 2017. A runoff election, which was planned for April 20, 2017, was not necessary because the FRETILIN candidate Francisco Lú-Olo Guterres prevailed with an absolute majority in the first ballot. The new President of East Timor was inducted into office on May 20, 2017.

General

A total of 743,150 voters were registered in East Timor, a fifth of them in the state capital Dili . Among the registered voters were 1,332 East Timorese from overseas who were able to take part in the elections for the first time. However, the registration led to problems for them. The East Timorese in Europe had to register personally at the embassy in Lisbon , which meant a long journey for the numerous East Timorese from Ireland and the United Kingdom . In Australia , where 9,226 East Timorese live, voters could only vote in the East Timorese consulates general in Sydney and Darwin , although Melbourne has a large East Timorese community. There was neither the possibility of an earlier vote nor a postal vote. Only 889 voters have registered in Australia. In Lisbon, voters were registered. According to 2016 figures, 51% of all eligible voters are between 17 and 35 years old. Between 36 and 59 years is 33%. 16% of voters are 60 years or older. As of December 2016, 1,370 eligible voters were 16 years old.

It was the first presidential election East Timor organized without the support of the United Nations . One problem was the transport of ballot boxes from inaccessible regions of the country without the UN helicopters. For the elections, 944 polling stations were set up at 696 locations, for which 693 security guards and 9410 polling officers were used. Around 120 employees of the Secreteriado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral (STAE) were also active nationwide . STAE employees could be recognized by their white caps with the STAE logo. Employees of the Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE) wore special T-shirts.

Facebook and other networks, which are very popular with the younger generation , had more influence than the traditional media .

Regulations

The government changed some provisions in the electoral law in 2016. The voting age has been reduced to at least 16 years. For the first time, voters took part who had not yet lived during the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999).

The candidates had to be reported to the Tribunal de Recurso de Timor-Leste by February 5, 2017 . On February 16, they were confirmed by the court and officially announced by the STAE between February 19 and 21. The prerequisite for participating in the elections was the signatures of 5,000 supporters, with at least 100 signatures from each of the 13 municipalities .

The official final result will be announced between March 23rd and 25th. Objections can be submitted until April 2nd. International election observers came from the European Union and the Australia Timor-Leste Election Observer Mission (ATLEOM). There were also a few representatives from the local embassies of other countries and national election observers.

Candidates

Logo of José Neves
Candidates
No. image Surname
1 Antonio Maher Lopes
2 Francisco Lú-Olo Guterres (FRETILIN) Francisco Lú-Olo Guterres
3 Amorim Vieira
4th 2019-07-22 José Neves.jpg José Neves
5 Jose Luis Guterres, Deputy Prime Minister, Timor-Leste - Flickr - Horasis.jpg José Luís Guterres
6th 2020-06-04 Angela Freitas - GMN TV.jpg Angela Freitas
7th 2017-04-07 Luis Alves Tilman 2.jpg Luís Alves Tilman
8th 2017-03-09 António da Conceição.jpg Antonio da Conceição

The current President of East Timor, Taur Matan Ruak , stated in an interview in December 2016 that he would not run for a second term. On March 3, 2017, he confirmed previous suspicions that he would run with the newly founded Partidu Libertasaun Popular (PLP) in the parliamentary elections to be held in July to become prime minister . The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, former President and Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta also refused to run again despite numerous requests.

By the end of the deadline, eight people had submitted their candidacy.

For the small Partido Socialista de Timor (PST), its deputy general secretary Antonio Maher Lopes (battle name: Fatuk Mutin ) competed . The free choice of candidate took place on October 2, 2016 by the party's central committee.

On October 26, 2016, José Samala-Rua Neves declared his candidacy as an independent. Until July 2016 he was deputy commissioner of the Comissão Anti-Corrupção (CAC).

Francisco Lú-Olo Guterres, the chairman of FRETILIN, ran for the third time as his party's candidate after 2007 and 2012 . Xanana Gusmão , former Prime Minister and President, and Chairman of the Congresso Nacional da Reconstrução Timorense CNRT , pledged his support for Lú-Olo. The two largest parties in the country were thus behind Lú-Olo. Further supporters were the two party foundations Partido Esperança da Pátria PEP and Centro Acção Social Democrata Timorense CASDT .

For the second time since 2012, José Luís Lugu Guterres , chairman of the Frenti-Mudança (FM) and former foreign minister, took up the position. This time he applied as an independent candidate.

On January 25, Amorim Vieira submitted his candidacy to the Tribunal de Recurso as an independent. He used to live in Scotland and was active there in the Scottish National Party in East Kilbride .

As the sixth candidate, António Kalohan da Conceição declared his candidacy. The then Minister of State and Education stood for the Partido Democrático (PD). After the ruling coalition broke up, Conceição, like all other PD ministers, initially suspended his party membership in order to ensure the stability of the government. But then he took over the leadership of the PD and has now been nominated as its candidate. The PD received support from the smaller KHUNTO party . In addition, Conceição supported the PLP and Isabel da Costa Ferreira , the wife of the president, who appeared together with the candidate. Conceição's election slogan was "Peaceful Politics".

On February 1, Angela Freitas , party leader of the Partido Trabalhista (PT) announced that she would run for election. In 2012, her candidacy had already failed before the ballot because she could not present the necessary 5000 signatures from supporters. In 2007 she withdrew her candidacy on the grounds that the “poor and unstable situation” did not allow correct elections.

On February 5th, Luís Mau-Hunu Alves Tilman was the last to submit his candidacy. Before his candidacy, the President of the East Timorese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ermera was hardly known nationwide.

Lú-Olo had submitted 13,000 signatures from supporters, Conceição 9,000 and José Luís Guterres 7,700. With six candidates, the STAE continued to check whether they met the conditions for the support lists. Several anomalies were found in the signatures submitted, such as duplicate signatures, people supporting multiple candidates, and underage signers. The STAE informed the tribunal, which gave the submitters two days for rework. On February 17, the ranking of the eight candidates on the ballot paper was drawn and announced by court president Guilhermino da Silva . All eight were allowed to participate.

On the same day, Antonio Maher Lopes criticized the tribunal for applying different standards. He was refused to include his battle name Fatuk Mutin on the ballot. In the case of the FRETILIN candidate Francisco Guterres, the battle name Lú-Olo should be mentioned.

Observers speculated that there would be shifts in the power structure. The younger generation has less of a bond with the old heroes of the struggle for independence and has more of an eye on education and jobs. That should be at the expense of FRETILIN and the CNRT. Nevertheless, Lú-Olo was considered the favorite, certain chances were only granted to António da Conceição.

In the last election, FRETILIN had its strongholds in the east of the country, while the CNRT won votes in the west in the 2012 parliamentary elections . The now deceased candidate of the Partido Democrático PD Fernando de Araújo won the 2012 presidential election in the West.

Election campaign

António da Conceição's campaign headquarters in Bairro Pite

The official election campaign ran from March 3rd to 17th, three days before the vote.

During the pre-election period, only four incidents involving minor clashes between political opponents were recorded. On March 2nd, the eight candidates took part in a procession with 5000 participants. It led from the Church of São José to a Marian grotto at the bishop's residence. The rosary was sung on the way . At the Marienschrein the candidates signed an agreement by which they committed themselves to a peaceful election campaign.

The start of the election campaign was also relatively calm. On March 3, the first day of the hot phase, only four PD supporters were arrested by police after throwing stones at the cars and motorcycles of FRETILIN supporters returning from a rally in Dili. There was only material damage. In Oe-Cusse Ambeno , a man was briefly arrested for appearing with a FRETILIN flag at an election rally by António da Conceição. FRETILIN and CNRT then expressly forbade their supporters to appear with party flags at events by candidates other than Lú-Olo.

On March 18, in an interview with the Australian Fairfax Media, Lú-Olo deviated from the previous government position by leaving it open whether in future the natural gas from the Timor Sea should be piped to East Timor or, as before, to Australia. East Timor's call for the creation of a large industrial complex on the south coast to process production from the gas fields between countries is part of a lengthy dispute between Australia and East Timor , along with the question of how profits should be shared . A few hours later, Lú-Olo's office denied the statement, stating that the candidate saw the only option in the construction of the US $ 1.4 billion Tasi Mane project.

Election day and result

Polling station in Meti Aut (Dili)
The strongest candidates in the respective communities
Result of the presidential election in East Timor on March 20, 2017
Candidate (party) be right %
Antonio Maher Lopes ( PST ) 9.102 1.8%
Francisco Lu-Olo Guterres ( FRETILIN ) 295.048 57.1%
Amorim Vieira ( independent ) 4,283 0.8%
José Samala-Rua Neves ( independent ) 11,663 2.3%
José Luís Lugu Guterres ( independent, FM chairman ) 13,513 2.6%
Angela Freitas ( PT ) 4,353 0.8%
Luís Mau-Hunu Alves Tilman ( independent ) 11,125 2.2%
António Kalohan da Conceição ( PD ) 167.794 32.5%
valid votes 516.881 97.71%
invalid votes 8,989 1.70%
blank ballot papers 2,911 0.55%
rejected ballots 32 0.01%
Total (turnout: 71.16%) 528.813 100.00%

Voting took place between 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., with most voters coming in the morning, as before, so that most votes were already collected by noon. The day passed peacefully.

According to the preliminary final result, Lú-Olo was ahead with 57.08%. Conceição was 32.47%. He congratulated Lú-Olo on his election victory on March 21. The remaining six candidates shared the remaining 10%.

Lú-Olo won in nine municipalities of East Timor ( Aileu , Baucau , Bobonaro , Cova Lima , Dili , Lautém , Manatuto , Manufahi , Viqueque ). In seven of them he achieved an absolute majority. Conceição won the election in Ainaro , Ermera and Liquiçá . What was striking was the result of the count in Oe-Cusse Ambeno, where Lú-Olo and Conceição were neck and neck and the PD candidate was finally ahead. In the Special Economic Zone, the FRETILIN General Secretary Marí Alkatiri heads the local government.

Lú-Olo had his best result with 82.79% in his home municipality Viqueque, his worst with 41.35% in Liquiçá, where Conceição comes from. Here the PD candidate received 49.82%, while in Viqueque he got his worst result with 9.67% in Viqueque. Lú-Olo also won in the three polling stations outside East Timor: In Lisbon with 65.61%, Sydney with 64% and Darwin with 47.88%.

Votes of the candidates in the individual parishes
Candidate / municipality Aileu Ainaro Baucau Bobonaro Cova Lima Dili Ermera Lautém Liquiçá Manatuto Manufahi Oe-Cusse Ambeno Viqueque Australia Portugal total
Antonio Maher Lopes ( PST ) 649 590 875 1.005 487 1,848 853 440 400 564 367 465 552 4th 3 9.102
Francisco Lu-Olo Guterres ( FRETILIN ) 11,656 12,690 41,949 18,676 16,288 64,498 22,022 20,061 12,998 13,492 14,374 13,976 32,054 127 187 295.048
Amorim Vieira ( independent ) 157 255 369 405 223 559 556 797 188 160 202 231 177 3 1 4,283
José Samala-Rua Neves ( independent ) 324 511 941 1,386 677 2,895 2,050 245 1,167 383 342 334 401 1 6th 11,663
José Luís Lugu Guterres ( independent, FM chairman ) 490 573 2,848 1,093 748 2,974 932 682 490 440 654 354 1,196 15th 24 13,513
Angela Freitas ( PT ) 153 255 417 750 258 657 640 166 141 165 289 224 235 3 0 4,353
Luís Mau-Hunu Alves Tilman ( independent ) 581 503 854 644 429 2,653 2,874 334 387 319 556 613 364 12 2 11,125
António Kalohan da Conceição ( PD ) 9.414 12,941 9,308 18,018 10,048 30,899 22,049 6,869 15,659 7,283 7,276 14,148 3,745 75 62 167.794
total 23,424 28,318 57,561 41,977 29,158 106,983 51,976 29,594 31,430 22.806 24,060 30,345 38,724 240 285 516.881

Although there were long queues, the national turnout of 71.16% was slightly lower than in 2012 (73.12%). The highest turnout was in Aileu with 81.49%, the lowest in Manufahi with 68.05%.

The irregularities and problems registered by ATLEOM were manageable, only the wearing of party symbols on the clothes of supporters in polling stations was widespread, although party advertising was generally prohibited. This particularly affected FRETILIN election observers, who wore red and yellow shirts. Although it was forbidden, cell phones and small cameras were also taken into the voting booth and the ballot paper photographed. As a result, there is a fundamental risk that votes will be bought and the photos used as evidence.

Web links

Commons : East Timor Presidential Elections 2017  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Sapo Notícias: Eleições presidenciais timorenses decorrem a 20 de março, tomada de posse a 20 de maio , January 16, 2017 , accessed on January 16, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c STAE: Preliminary results , accessed on March 22, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b c Sapo Notícias: Ano decisivo em Timor-Leste com eleições presidenciais e legislativas , December 19, 2016 , accessed on December 19, 2016.
  4. ^ The diplomat: The Importance of Timor-Leste's 2017 Elections , March 4, 2017 , accessed March 4, 2017.
  5. ^ SBS: First time Timor-Leste citizens can vote for their president from Australia , March 9, 2017 , accessed March 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Damien Kingsbury and Michael Maley: Australia Timor-Leste Election Observer Mission 2017 Official Statement , March 23, 2017, Deakin University , accessed March 23, 2017.
  7. ↑ Sapo Notícias: Governo altera leis eleitorais para que timorenses em Portugal e na Austrália possam votar , December 16, 2016 , accessed on December 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b c Sydney Morning Herald: Long queues as East Timorese choose to have a say in future of Asia's newest democracy , accessed March 20, 2017.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h SAPO: Not´cias: Oito candidaturas apresentadas às eleições de Timor-Leste, seis ainda em verificação , February 6, 2017 , accessed on February 6, 2017.
  10. ↑ a b c The Dili Weekly: Eight candidates to contest presidential election , February 27, 2017 , accessed March 2, 2017.
  11. ↑ Sapo Notícias: Tribunal de Recurso timorense sorteia alinhamento no boletim de voto para presidenciais , February 17, 2017 , accessed on February 17, 2017.
  12. ↑ Timor Agora: Taur: “Hau nia Partidu Mak PLP, Prontu Kompete CNRT-Fretilin” , March 5, 2017 , accessed on March 5, 2017.
  13. ↑ Matadalan online: Taur Harii Partidu Tanba Kauza Lei Pensaun Vitalísia , November 21, 2015 ( Memento of December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ a b c Observador: Ministro da Educação timorense é candidato às eleições presidenciais , January 27, 2017 , accessed on January 27, 2017.
  15. ↑ Timor Agora: Partido Socialista de Timor apoia António Maher Lopes / Fatuk Mutin às Eleições Presidenciais 2017 , October 2, 2016 , accessed on October 2, 2016.
  16. ↑ Suara Timor Lorosae: “Samala-Rua” Deklara Candidature Ba Pezidenti Republika 2017-2022 , October 27, 2016 , accessed on October 27, 2016.
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  18. ↑ Crikey: Is East Timor run by a 'stable' govt or conspiratorial oligarchy? , January 27, 2017 , accessed January 27, 2017.
  19. ↑ Timor Agora: Entrevista eskluzivu ho kandidatu PR Lu-Olo: Xanana apoia ha'u tanba kompriende konstituisaun , March 8, 2017 , accessed on June 5, 2017.
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  21. ↑ Isabel da Costa Ferreira's Facebook presence: SE Primeira-Dama, hanesan mos activista Direitos Humanos hanesan , March 9, 2017 , accessed on March 11, 2017.
  22. ↑ a b c Deutsche Welle: East Timor holds first presidential election since UN peacekeepers left , March 20, 2017 , accessed on March 20, 2017.
  23. ↑ Sapo: Líder do Partido Trabalhista timorense anuncia candidatura a Presidente da República , February 1, 2017 , accessed on February 1, 2017.
  24. ↑ Independente: Court finds Freitas presented dual electoral cards with candidacy application , January 26, 2012
  25. ↑ Independente: Court refuses Angela Freitas' Presidential candidacy , February 15, 2012
  26. ↑ Radio Timor-Leste: Court of Appeals should be responsible for its decision: Angela Freitas , February 16, 2012.
  27. ↑ Di'ak Ka Lae: Angela Freitas first female candidate .
  28. ↑ Sapo Notícias: Candidato presidencial timorense acusa tribunal dehaben respeitar princípio de igualdade , February 17, 2017 , accessed on February 17, 2017.
  29. ^ NGO Belun's Early Warning, Early Response (EWER) System: Situation Review - February 2017 , accessed on February 17, 2017.
  30. ↑ UCA news: Church takes lead in Timor-Leste presidential campaign , March 7, 2017 , accessed March 10, 2017.
  31. ↑ SAPO Notícias: Primeiros dias de campanha em Timor-Leste com um incidente - comandante polícia , March 6, 2017 , accessed on March 6, 2017.
  32. ^ The Asia Foundation: Timor-Leste Elections 2017: More of the Same? , March 15, 2017 , accessed March 17, 2017.
  33. ↑ a b CNE: ', accessed July 11, 2017.
  34. ↑ Sapo Notícias: Líderes do PD congratulam Lu-Olo pela vitória nas presidenciais , March 21, 2017 , accessed on March 21, 2017.
  35. ↑ Michael Leach: Timor-Leste election: Likely victory for Lu Olo suggests business as usual , In: The Interpreter, March 21, 2017 , accessed on March 21, 2017.
  36. ↑ a b c Timor Agora: Lu-Olo eleito Presidente de Timor-Leste com 57.08% dos votos válidos - dados finais provisórios , March 22, 2017 , accessed on March 24, 2017.