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East Timorese voters get more time to review electoral roll: UN mission

East Timorese voters get more time to review electoral roll: UN mission

Registered voters will now have two more days, until 27 July, to confirm that their names are on the electoral roll for the upcoming elections, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) announced today.

The preliminary lists of voters eligible to take part in the 30 August elections were posted on 16 July in all 65 sub-districts of East Timor. More than 50,000 East Timorese have already visited the so-called "exhibition and challenge" centres.

In a statement issued today, UNTAET's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said it was "pleased that so many people are taking advantage of this opportunity to make sure their names are on the voters list. District Electoral Officers are working throughout East Timor to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to check the list and request inclusion in the list if their name is missing."

The ongoing exhibition and challenge period is also the first opportunity for the population to find out where they are assigned to vote in the Constituent Assembly elections.

In other news, an UNTAET delegation today met with counterparts attending the ministerial meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) currently under way in Hanoi.

The head of UNTAET, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and Cabinet Minister for Foreign Affairs José Ramos-Horta today held meetings with the Foreign Ministers of China, New Zealand and Belgium.

This is the second year in a row that the host of the annual ASEAN ministerial meeting has invited UNTAET and the East Timorese leadership to attend the forum.