BACKGROUND

On 30 August 1999, the people of East Timor made full use of an historic opportunity through a Popular Consultation to express their preference for their future, the options presented being to become a special autonomous region within the Republic of Indonesia or to take the path towards national independence. Some 78% of the East Timorese people chose the second option. Those who were not willing to accept the popular verdict of the majority of East Timorese unleashed savage paths of destruction across the territory leaving hundreds murdered, hundreds of thousands dislocated and traumatised, and great amounts of property, private and public, burned, looted and destroyed. Following the September 1999 violence, East Timor was left without any working institutions. This distinguishes it from other war-tom territories, as all administrations and institutions had to be constructed rather than reconstructed.

A sense of calm was gradually restored and a programme of preparation for independent nationhood developed. Reconstruction of infrastructure, physical, social and administrative, has been a key objective of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor is currently the governing body of the territory.

In July 2000, UNTAET established the East Timor Transitional Administration (ETTA), key to the process of preparing for independence has been the development of the necessary political and legal infrastructure needed to support the birth of the new nation. ETTA is an important manifestation of the emergence of East Timorese in ministerial positions of public policy making. ETTA operates - within and under UNTAET - a sort of cabinet structure. It currently has five East Timorese cabinet members and four internationals. Key functions are progressively being handed over to East Timorese officials.

ETTA may be regarded as the nucleus of a future government structure at the end of the UN mandate. While retaining the ultimate executive and legislative authority conferred upon him by the Security Council, the Transitional Administrator/Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General has de facto largely delegated these powers to the ETTA Cabinet.

One further important development has been the emergence of the National Council as a transitional legislative partner of the ETTA. This nucleus of a future assembly was established on 23 October 2000 and consists of 36 representatives', which were appointed by the Transitional Administrator/Special Representative of the LTN Secretary-General. It has only advisory powers, but is consulted on major issues. It has dissolved prior to the election.

As a community seeking to apply principles of public sovereignty as the basis for state action, community leaders in East Timor have been supportive of the need to establish a democratic constitutional basis to the new nation. To be accepted as legitimate, the process of developing the nation's constitution will begin with the popular election of a Constituent Assembly. These popularly elected East Timorese will have the task of actually deliberating on and endorsing the structure and substance of the East Timorese state.

Since December 2000, there has been a growing consensus among the East Timorese people to seek independence as soon as practically possible. The following political schedule is likely to be followed:

1) A nation-wide civil registration campaign from which the voters' roll will be extracted;

2) A nation-wide civic and voter education campaign, covering among others, electoral modalities;

3) Election for a Constituent Assembly designed to elaborate and adopt a constitution, within 90 days of its inauguration;

4) The transformation of this Assembly into a legislative body (while open to the Constituent Assembly to decide within the constitution, there is broad consensus over this transformation. Thus neither a referendum on the constitution nor a separate election for this new parliament are expected.)

5) The election of a Head of State by a popular vote;

6) The establishment of an interim/provisional government,

7) The declaration of independence.

The exact timetable results from a number of factors, including the security situation, possible technical difficulties in organising the election and the complex political decision-making process. The issue of remaining East Timorese refugees in West Timor (50-80.000 people, as estimated by UNTAET) remains a matter of concern. Those who may wish to vote are disenfranchised by the current conditions: as long as they are unable to return to East 'Timor and to register - like everybody else - as "habitual residents" of the territory, they are excluded from their right to vote.

To conduct the elections for a Constituent Assembly, UNTAET has established an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), composed of eminent Timorese and others. For the purposes of these elections, the IEC will be East Timor's electoral management body, while UNTAET is fully responsible for the conduct of the elections and is putting special emphasis on sustainability and capacity-building in all aspects in order to enable the East Timorese to conduct their own elections in the future.

The legal framework for conducting these elections has been completed following extensive deliberation and approval by the National Council and signature by the ETTA Transitional Administrator. Regulation 200112 on the Election of a Constituent Assembly to prepare a Constitution for an independent and democratic East Timor entered into force on 16 March 2001. Preceding the election of the Constituent Assembly will begin the process of debating and deliberating on constitutional issues.

The principal political parties in East Timor include the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor (FRETILN), the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Timorese Socialist Party (PST), the Timorese Nationalist Party (PNT), the Association of Heroic Sons of East Timor (KOTA), the Workers Association of East Timor (APODETI), and the Christian Democrat Union (CDU).

While it is important that key "technical" issues of the structure of the state established in the Constitution be settled, there is also a critical need for broad community endorsement of the resulting Constitution. This process of broad endorsement can be facilitated through supporting constitutional commissions to be established through directive No.200112 issued by the SRSG on 31 March 2001 to engage the public on important issues in a consultative and transparent manner. Such a process strengthens the community's sense of ownership of the resulting Constitution and also of its commitment to abide by the Constitution.

There will also be a need to support the development and dissemination of information to the public and to facilitate a substantive engagement of the public in the process of deliberating the Constitution. This will form part of the civic and voter education programme in the pre and post-election periods.

ELECTION OBSERVATION

All actors, without exception, stressed the need for international observation to guarantee the acceptability of the election result. Indeed the absence of independent observation could lead to a rejection of election results and therefore jeopardise the legitimacy of the entire election process. The latter argument has also to be seen in the context of the prevailing political pattern. Neutral observers staying beyond the announcement of results are considered a stabilising factor. In the 13 East Timorese administrative districts, the IEC intends to establish 250 polling centres overseeing a total of 900 polling stations. In general, no standard ration applicable between voters/polling stations and observers exists. The election authority has decided only to invite and accredit members of election observation groups (and not individual observers). Accreditation is necessary to access the polling station. Results of the elections are expected 4-7 days after the election.

CIVIC AND VOTER EDUCATION

The generally low level of understanding of the workings of a free and representative democracy is the result of the territory's history. In addition, due to the internal bloodshed which occurred in the 1974-75 period, there is grave and widespread distrust of the political party system , which is associated with violent confrontation as a way to deal with differences of opinion or ideology. Civic and voter education, in various forms, are therefore considered by all actors to be an essential precursor to the ballot and should carry on beyond Election Day. UNTAET's Political Affairs Division has led a broad-based, consultative approach to civic and voter education, through the establishment of a Steering Committee on Civic Education in East Timor. A comprehensive approach has been prepared.

ROLE OF UNDP

Given the role of UNTAET as election organiser, UNDP has been requested to play a co-ordinating role in electoral observation and an operational role for other election related activities.

PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES

A EU mission was tasked in April 2001 to consider possible European Commission support to the electoral process. It looked therefore with particular attention into those areas where added value and timely Commission delivery could possibly be expected. Two broad categories - observation and support to voter and civic education - were identified as such areas. It is clear that in all cases a balance between speed of delivery, usefulness and visibility has to be attained. In terms of implementation, the observation part should benefit from UNDP logistical and administrative support while retaining its operational independence, whereas support to voter and civic education could be directly channelled through the UNDP facility.

The objective of the voter and civic education programme is to enhance the public's understanding and knowledge of the elections and to engage the civil society actively and substantively in the establishment of a democratic nation-building process.

PROGRAMME COMPONENTS

The program will have two components :

The grant scheme: In order to secure a high-level of participation of the East Timorese civil society organisations in the execution of the civic education programme, it is envisaged to develop a mechanism for effective and speedy disbursal of grants to assorted East Timorese community groups to assist them to reach members of their communities. Such scheme would also facilitate a co-ordinated responses of agencies including donors engaged in civic education and information programmes.

UNDP, in consultation and collaboration with both the ETTA and NSCCE, will establish a micro grants scheme at the district level (below USD 1,000) and medium size grants (USD 1,000 to 10,000 and above) to facilitate NG0s to organise civic education activities. A separate monitoring and management unit will be established.

UNTAET's approach to civic education is to provide support, co-ordination and assistance in obtaining funding to an East Timorese-driven national civic education programme.With this in mind, the National Steering Committee on Civic Education (NSCCE), comprising the Catholic Church, the CNRT/CAPP, the NGO Forum, the Womens' Network (Rede Feto), the Students' Solidarity Council, the University of Timor Lorosae, and the ETTA Department of Education, was formed in late 2000. UNTAET and UNDP also participate in a supportive capacity. The current framework was based on consultations with members of the steering committee, and ideas developed by UNDP-funded consultants. Two core activities, led by steering committee members, are complemented by a broad programme of support to other initiatives by civil society organisations. UNTAET is co-ordinating these initiatives, to see that funding is used effectively and that the contents of such activities are compatible. The scheme encourages the development of a multiplicity of civic education activities, so that participation is maximised, and so that coverage is as broad and deep as possible.

Details on modalities covering micro and medium size grants: The execution of this element of the Programme will be shared between UNDP and ETTA. UNDP will be ultimately responsible for this programme, but certain administrative aspects will be managed by ETTA since the establishment of a full administration of UNDP to the district level would be financially prohibitive. The East Timorese civic education trainers and facilitators will identify and provide programmatic inputs to the development of civic education proposals for funding through this Programme. Proposals valued at USD 1,000 or less will be appraised (accepted, rejected or deferred pending further clarification or detail) by the following team in each district:

• District Civic Education Officer;
• 3 of the 4 trainers/facilitators (excluding the person who was involved in supporting the proposal);
• Senior official from the local district administration.

Larger scale project proposals, valued at over USD 1,000 to a maximum of USD 10,000 (although there may be special consideration under certain circumstances to consider a larger project) will be appraised in Dili following an initial pre-screening at the district level by the district level appraisal committee. For larger scale projects it may also be possible for CS0s to contact the focal point for the civic education programme in UNDP directly.

The appraisal committee to review proposals valued at over USD 1,000 will consist of the following agencies:

• UNDP as Chair;
• ETTA Political Affairs Division (Civic Education Unit);
• NGO Forum;
• NSCCE; and
• The UNV unit manager for monitoring and management in an ex-officio capacity.

To monitor and provide ongoing evaluation of the projects approved, a small monitoring and management unit will be established. This unit will consist of 1 UNY and 2 East Timorese. All members of this unit will be recruited directly by UNDP.

EUROPIAN UNION ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION

In the area of election observation, and by decision of UNTAET, UNDP will act as a key point of contact as the co-ordinator of observation and monitoring. This will require the establishment of close working relationships with the various groups engaged in observation and monitoring. The nature of engagement with the national monitoring groups will be more intense as they will also be the beneficiaries of specific support programmes to build their long-term capacity to act as election monitors. UNDP will establish a Joint International Observer Group (JIOG), which will provide the necessary support to facilitate the work of the observers.

The JIOG will house both the staff working on co-ordinating the international observers as well as those working on developing programmes of support to the domestic observers. Specific and separate arrangements will also be established for those donors who may wish to deploy long-term observers (LTOs) and/or short-term observers (STOs) through UNDP.

Within this configuration and as a specific arrangement between UNDP and the EC as above mentioned, it is envisaged to include a modest capacity for logistical/administrative support within the planned JIOG - with the clear provision that such services will be assigned to a small and distinct group of staff who are making up the EU Observation mission.

Local Staff: Local experts will be hired by UNDP in order to assist on a personal basis the electoral experts of the EU Observation mission. The tasks of these personnel will in particular consist to accompany experts to appropriate meetings and act as an interpreter, when required, organise meetings, search for and collect information needed for the mission's work e.g. laws and regulations, translate letters and official documents, and make daily summaries of the printed media.

SPECIFIC TASKS OF THE OBSERVERS

The observers shall:

(1) observe the electoral process, in particular the vote and the count.

(2) report their observations, following previously agreed procedures and formats.

At all times the observers shall follow the prescribed EU Code of Conduct for Electoral Observers and the Guidelines for International Observers, issued by the Electoral bodies.

Observers shall provide the following:

(1) Separate observation reports in the prescribed format, each relating to individual Polling Stations visited at each stage of the vote and the count, transmitted in the most effective manner possible to the LTO Coordinator and Support Operation. These would form the basis of formal EU statements.

(2) Relevant contributions to the post-election debrief and other reports as required.

(Extracted from EC/UNDP, Brussels, ANNEX 1- PROJECT DESCRIPTION)