Timor-Leste: EU Commission welcomes peaceful development of Presidential elections

The European Commission welcomes the high participation and the peaceful development of the first round of the Presidential elections in Timor-Leste. The European Commission considers these elections, which will be followed by the Parliamentary elections later this year, as a fundamental step in the process of consolidation of the Timorese democracy and of the Timorese institutions. European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso hailed the strong attachment to democracy shown once again by the Timorese people in the first general elections organized by national institutions: "I was heartened to see the orderly and peaceful manner in which long lines of people waited to cast their votes and I hope that this calm will prevail going forward, allowing the democratic will of the Timorese people to be expressed in peace and security."

The EU has deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Timor-Leste to observe the Presidential and the Parliamentary elections. The Preliminary Statement delivered by the mission praised the openness and peaceful conditions in which the elections have been held. The Preliminary Statement acknowledges that "the elections were generally smoothly conducted by the Timorese electoral authorities in spite of the difficult terrain and logistics challenges". Even though the official results are not yet available, the provisional data show a neck-and-neck race among several candidates and allow foreseeing a run-off between the two strongest candidates.

"The fact that we have deployed an EU mission to observe these first general elections after independence confirms our strong support to Timor-Leste on its difficult path of building a nation. We are convinced this mission, under the leadership of Chief Observer Javier Pomés, made an important contribution and their findings will be useful to the Timorese institutions for the next round and the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. I am confident that all parties will accept the outcome", said the European Commissioner responsible for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

"This mission together with an assistance for the organization of elections of € 1.5 million out of its institutional capacity building programme under the 9th European Development Fund confirms the EU's strong support for the electoral process in Timor-Leste. We also acknowledge the role of the international community, in particular UNMIT, in helping to prepare and organize the election and creating a reassuring environment. This was fundamental in order to give the election results credibility as the true reflection of the democratic choice of the Timorese people and as an important step to overcome the current political crisis of the country", stressed Louis Michel, the Commissioner responsible for development and humanitarian aid.

For more information:
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/east_timor/index.htm

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• Timor-Leste: EU Presidency Declaration on legislative elections  (5/7/2007)
• Timor-Leste: EU Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner welcomes peaceful development of Parliamentary elections (2/7/2007)
• European Union deploys Election Observation Mission to Timor Leste (14/6/2007)
• Timor-Leste: EU Presidency Declaration on second round of presidential election (16/5/2007)
• Timor-Leste: EU Presidency Declaration on first round of presidential election (12/4/2007)
• Timor Leste : EU deploys Election Observation Mission (14/3/2007)
• East Timor: EU Commission allocates €1.5m to victims of internal crisis (1/3/2007)
• EU Presidency Statement- UN Security Council: The Situation in Timor-Leste  (12/2/2007)