DILI, 18 august 2022 (TATOLI) – The Government of Timor-Leste donated US$1 million to support the upcoming parliamentary elections of the Guinee Bissau to take place on december 18, this year.
“We have allocated US$1 million to support the upcoming parliamentary elections of Guinea Bissau,” Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak told reporters after his weekly meeting with President Horta, at Presidential Palace, today.
Ruak said the Government of Timor-Leste recently sent a team to support Guinea Bissau’s electoral bodies with voter registration and other electoral technical assistance.
“The team just returned from Guinea Bissau and delivered a presentation on their visit to Guinea Bissau at the Council of Ministers, yesterday,” said Ruak.
He said the team will again depart for Guinea Bissau in the near future to support Guinea Bissau’s electoral staff to have better preparation for the upcoming parliamentary election: “It’s part of our continuous support to Guinea Bissau since 2014. So, every time they have elections, we always support them,” said Ruak.
In early 2014, Timor-Leste began supporting the Electoral Process in Guinea Bissau following a request made by the Transitional Government of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau which was presented to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in september 2013.
The support included provided technical and financial support to carry out the activities of voter registration and elections in that sister country, which is also a Member State of the g7 +.
In 2013, Timor-Leste donated US$6 million in aid to the government of Guinea Bissau, which was experiencing a political and military crisis.
The former Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão appointed the then Secretary of State for Administrative Decentralization, Tomás Cabral, to coordinate the Mission, with the support of representatives from the electoral administration bodies of Timor-Leste and the Agency for Cooperation of Timor-Leste in Guinea-Bissau.
Again, in 2018, the Timorese mission was headed by Tomás Cabral, who was appointed as Special Representative of the Government of RDTL to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau to proceed with the identification of the needs of the State for the holding of free and democratic elections.
In january 2013, the former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed José Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS).
The recent parliamentary elections of Guinea Bissau were held on march 10, 2019. However, in may 2022, Guinea Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo dissolved the country’s parliament and called for parliamentary elections by the end of the year.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
