DILI, 24 may 2023 (TATOLI) – National Tabulation of the 2023 Parliamentary Elections started today by National Commission for Elections (CNE).
President of CNE, Jose Belo said that within 72 hours CNE will verify the claimed, null and white votes: “National tabulation starts today and will be completed on 27 may.”
“I would like to inform the public that all provisional results of the parliamentary elections produced by any institutions are not official. Therefore, the official result will be published by CNE,” Belo told reporters at the CNE’s hall, in Dili, today.
Between 27 and 30 may, CNE will prepare the minutes of the provisional tabulation of national results and post minutes at its headquarters.
He said that the deadline to appeal the provisional national results to the Court of Appeal Panel would be taken place between may 29 and june 1.
Belo said that all the ballot boxes from all the municipalities are gathered in the CNE’s hall for tabulation.
“The ballot boxes from Australia have already arrived, but the ballot boxes from Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Korea will arrive tomorrow,” he said.
Belo said there could be a slight change in the provisional results of the STAE municipal tabulation.
He called on all citizens to accept the results of the elections: “The results of the elections will be published and I call on everyone to accept it.”
According to the temporary result of the parliamentary election Gusmão’s party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) secures a big victory over the ruling parties – the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), People’s Liberation Party (PLP), and Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan (KHUNTO).
With all votes counted, Gusmão’s party was on 41.62 percent of the votes — a 16-point lead over the leading ruling party FRETILIN of the former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, which had 25.75 percent, PLP of the current Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak with 5.88 percent of the votes, and KHUNTO with 7,52.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (PD), one of the opposition parties which is likely to form a coalition with Gusmão’s CNRT had 9.32 percent of the votes.
Despite having many supporters, the Green Party, and the Unity Party for Democratic Development (PUDD) received only 3.63 percent and 3.13 percent of the votes respectively, making both parties fail to pass the electoral threshold of 4% to secure any seats. Besides, the other small parties received only less than one percent of the votes.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
