DILI, 30 september 2021 (TATOLI) – The Government of Timor-Leste, through the Ministry of State Administration (MoSA), Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MoFAC), Timor-Leste’s National Elections Commission (CNE), and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), today, realized departure ceremony of the overseas voter registration team.
A team of 34 or 35 people would be divided into three groups who will be departing to South Korea, Portugal, and England on October 1.
The Director-General of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), Acilino Manuel Branco informed that Australia is currently under lockdown, saying therefore the designated team for Australia will have to wait until the flight operation to Australia is available.
“Of the 34 or 35 members, eight are from STAE, 12 from the MoFAC, and the rest are from CNE and MoJ,” Branco said.
The team will have a huge task to do: “For instance, the team of STAE will conduct a technical training on voter registration as well as installing the voter registration system. While the team of the Directorate for Registration and Notary (NDRN) will issue electoral identity cards for the new voters as well as renewing the expired electoral identity card of the overseas voters. In addition, the work of CNE’s team will monitor the whole process of voter registration.”
He said apart from the embassies and consulates, the mobile voter registration would be carried in those cities where many Timorese reside.
“The registration is expected to be concluded on January 2022. Based on the decree-law approved by the Council of Ministers (CoM) on august 4, the overseas voter registration would be carried out only in the aforementioned countries. We know that there are a lot of Timorese nationals are currently residing in Indonesia, and hoping that in the future the registration might cover Indonesia as well,” he said.
Branco added so far, around 7.000 new voters had been registered: “Currently, we have 847.315 voters and the number will increase.
He said up to 1.200 vote centers and 1.500 polling stations had been identified across the country, adding three parallel vote centers would be set in Dili.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
