DILI, 24 march 2022 (TATOLI) – The ballot drop boxes from the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Portugal, and South Korea will arrive in Timor-Leste on sunday (27/03), meanwhile, the national tabulation and verification were scheduled to conclude on friday (25/03), at 2 pm local time.
It means that the national tabulation would be concluded two days earlier before the arrival of the ballot drop boxes from these countries.
“As we know that the ballot drop boxes from the UK, Northern Ireland, Portugal, and South Korea will arrive on sunday. Thus, CNE might not verify these votes because if we do so then we will be breaching the law,” the Vice President of CNE, Commissary Domingos Barreto told TATOLI, at CNE office, in Dili, on thursday night.
He said the national tabulation of the null or blank and void votes has to be concluded within 72 hours by the National Elections Commission (CNE) – the supervisor electoral acts in Timor-Leste.
“The national tabulation and verification of the results of the 2022 presidential election was scheduled to conclude on friday (25/03), at 2 pm local time,” he reiterated.
According to article 46 of the law on the election of the President of the Republic on the national tabulation center;
- Within seventy-two hours of receiving the district tabulation minutes, CNE shall proceed to the national tabulation by verifying the district tabulation minutes and deciding definitively on the ballot papers considered null and subject to protests forwarded to it, including the complaints filed pursuant to item 4 of Article 43.
“Therefore, the decision on whether to carry out the verification of the null or blank and void votes from these countries is dependent on CNE’s plenary session,” he said.
CNE has so far concluded the verification and national tabulation of the blank or null and void votes from 10 municipalities, namely Aileu, Ainaro, Baucau, Bobonaro, Covalima, Dili, Ermera, Lautem, Liquiça, and Manatuto. Meanwhile, the verification of the votes from Manufahi, RAEOA, and Viqueque is underway.
“We will put more effort to conclude the verification and tabulation of the votes by tomorrow morning. It included the verification of the votes from Australia which will arrive in Dili, tomorrow,” he said.
According to the electoral calendar for the President of the Republic election;
CNE would submit the minutes of results to the Court of Appeal on march 29, 2022 if there is no appeal.
Court of Appeal would examine the documentation sent by CNE, validate the results, proclaim the result, and announce the number of registered voters, number of voters, number of blank and null votes, and number of votes attributed to each candidate, on march 30, 2022 to april 1, 2022.
The publication of the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Official Gazette (Jornal da República), would take place on april 1, 2022.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
