DILI, 15 march 2023 (TATOLI) – The President of the Republic, José Ramos Horta has vetoed the 5th amendment to the electoral law for parliament on the extension of voting hours, the creation of parallel voting centers, the introduction of postal voting and the Braille ballot paper.
Horta said that the reason for not promulgating the electoral law was mainly due to the improper implementation of parallel voting centers in the presidential elections.
The Head of State said that the parliamentary elections are so close, saying, therefore, it is impossible to guarantee the adequate implementation of the law.
He said, for example, many people were not able to vote in the parallel voting centers during the presidential election due to technical difficulties.
“The unapproved electoral law is to ease the work of STAE and CNE. So we will use the previous electoral law for the May-21 elections,” he stressed.
Echoing Horta’s statement on the unapproved electoral law, State Administration Minister Miguel Pereira de Carvalho said it could impede the government’s intention to increase voter turnout.
He said there are two main reasons why the President did not promulgate the electoral law: “First, the Head of State questioned the implementation of the parallel voting centers. However, as far as I know, the implementation of the parallel voting centers was going well in the presidential election. Another reason, President Horta is also concern with the implementation of postal voting.”
“It is clear that we are not going to implement the parallel voting centers, the postal voting, and the introduction of the braille ballot paper as President Horta has vetoed the 5th amendment to the electoral law,” he concluded.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
