East Timor: on eve of election, presidential candidates hold debate on UN-run radio

Just three days before East Timor’s first-ever presidential elections, the two candidates today squared off in a debate broadcast live throughout the territory by United Nations-run radio and urged their fellow citizens to go to polling centres and “vote with their conscience.”

East Timorese will go to the polls on Sunday, 14 April, as they become the first people to gain nationhood in the new millennium.

Legislative Assembly Vice President Francisco Xavier do Amaral and independence leader Xanana Gusmão answered questions from a mediator and audience members during the debate, held inside a conference room at the National University of East Timor in Dili.

More than 100 students, civil society leaders, diplomats and journalists attended the debate while hundreds more students packed a courtyard outside the venue. The event was organized by the University, the United States non-governmental organization National Democratic Institute and the radio station run by UNTAET, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor.

The two candidates elaborated on their campaign platforms, pledging to focus on development, education and improved relations with East Timor’s neighbours and the international community.

Along with the live radio transmission, UN-run television, Televisão Timor Leste (TVTL), taped the debate for an evening broadcast and provided a live feed to a nearby auditorium filled with dozens more enthusiastic East Timorese.

UNTAET’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said today that 2,200 national and international observers have been registered to monitor the ballot, along with an additional 3,000 agents for political parties and candidates. In addition, there are 74 East Timorese observer groups, compared to 20 during the August 2001 election for members of the Constituent Assembly.

The IEC counting centre in the capital, Dili, is also ready for the arrival and counting of ballots from across the territory. Sensitive election material – including ballots, ink and ballot box seals – will be sent from IEC district offices to the 281 polling centres on Saturday.

Approximately 430,000 people are eligible to vote in the election, including several thousand former refugees who have returned to East Timor since last August. In that election, 91 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.