TIMOR-LESTE'S LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL ELECTION LAWS MOVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DILI 000079

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MTS
PACOM FOR POLADS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TT
SUBJECT: TIMOR-LESTE'S LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL ELECTION LAWS MOVE
FORWARD

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1. (SBU) Summary. On Monday, March 2, Timor-Leste's Council of
Ministers submitted two draft laws for Municipal and Suco
(Village) elections to the National Parliament's Commission A
(Constitutional Issues, Justice, Public Administration, Local
Power and Government Legislation). The Commission will soon
begin a series of public consultations, and following their
conclusion will submit the laws along with a report to a plenary
session of Parliament for debate. The process will likely take
over a month. There are serious differences are expected to be
debated between the governing Alliance for a Parliamentary
Majority (AMP) parties and the opposition FRETILIN party over
the exclusion of political party platforms from Suco draft
election law, which FRETILIN opposes. Both sides cite
provisions of the Constitution in support of their positions.
In fact, the Constitution sheds little light. Municipal and
Suco election dates are not yet scheduled, but are expected to
be held between July and September 2009. End summary.



Transition to Municipal Government Structure

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2. (SBU) Under the new legislation, Dili's 13 Districts would
acquire new budgetary authority as Municipalities along the
Portuguese model. Under the current system, the Ministry of
State Administration in Dili appoints District Administrators.
The new law provides for direct election of a municipality chief
(Presidente de Camara, equivalent to a mayor). Members of a
newly created Municipal Council (Conselho Municipal, the
equivalent of a city council) will be elected from party lists
by a proportional representation system. If Parliament passes
the law in its present form, municipal elections will be held
this year in four of Timor-Leste's thirteen districts: Dili,
Baucau, Bononaro and Oecussi. During meetings with Poloff on
March 4, National Elections Commission (CNE) director Faustino
Cardoso and Technical Secretariat for Elections Support (STAE)
director Tomas Cabral referred to these municipal elections as a
"pilot project" to be followed in the remaining nine districts
in 2010-11.



Suco Elections

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3. (SBU) In contrast to municipal elections, the Suco (village)
draft election law provides for elections to be held this year
throughout all 442 Sucos, encompassing 2,337 small communities
in Timor-Leste. (Note: "Village" is the generally accepted
translation for the Timorese term suco. In fact, a suco usually
consists of a cluster of small settlements.) The current
leadership mandate at the Suco levels will expire in September
2009, hence the timeline for the elections. The Suco elections
of 2004 -05 and were held in phases that took place over the
course of almost one year, and were party based. Political
parties participated in these elections. There was no violence
reported during that period, and they were the first
Timorese-organized elections since the nation's independence.
(The first elections in 2002 were organized by the United
Nations).




4. (SBU) STAE director Cabral explained that the draft law seeks
to build on traditional community leadership structures. In
each suco, voters would choose between non-partisan slates.
Each slate would be led by a chefe de suco candidate, and would
contain as running mates hamlet (aldeia) leaders, two youth
representatives, two women's representatives, and one elder.
This candidate slate arrangement was devised, Cabral said, in
order to eliminate the potential for conflicts among
individually elected suco and aldeia leaders.


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5. (SBU) Unlike in 2004 and 2005, the Suco draft laws propose to
carry this year's elections on one single day, not in phases.
STAE director Tomas Cabral acknowledged that logistics for
carrying out the Suco elections would be burdensome. He further
noted the challenge posed by sending ballots, materials,
administrators, and observers to all villages for a single day
of voting, but said that he remained positive that these
challenges will be overcome. CNE director Faustino Cardoso also
acknowledged these challenges, but said he remained optimistic
that political differences would be resolved, and that the draft
laws would be approved by the National Parliament and ratified
by President Jose Ramos-Horta in time to hold elections before
September.



United Nations Lays Out Challenges

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6. (SBU) During a meeting with Poloff on February 27, United
Nations Electoral Support Team in Timor-Leste (UNEST) Chief
Technical Advisor Andres del Castillo reported that "great
conflict on political party issues" has emerged between the AMP
and FRETILIN, which disagree on the Suco bill's provision that
candidates may not represent political parties. Del Castillo
noted both sides maintain that definitions of community and
local powers under articles 7, 46 and 72 of the Constitution
support their position. He described the Constitution as vague
and "open to interpretation for political purposes," adding that
"in fact, it provides no clarity or answers."




7. (SBU) The Constitution is in fact ambiguous on both the role
of political parties and the definition of "local government."
For instance, Article 7, "Universal Suffrage and Multi-Party
System," notes that "the state shall value the contributions of
political parties for the organized expression of the popular
will and for the democratic participation of the citizen in the
governance of the country." Article 46, "Right to Political
Participation," notes that "every citizen has the right to
establish and to participate in political parties;" and "the
establishment and organization of political parties shall be
regulated by law." Article 72, "Local Government," states that
"local government is constituted by corporate bodies vested with
representative organs, with the objective of organizing the
participation by citizens in solving the problems of their own
community and promoting local development without prejudice to
the participation by the State;" and "the organization,
competence, functioning, and composition of the organs of local
government shall be defined by law."






8. (SBU) UNEST's Del Castillo underscored that political
differences hinge on the AMP government's intention to
"depoliticize" Suco elections by recognizing these as "community
powers," which do not meet the Constitution's definition of
"local government" and therefore are not obliged to accomodate
political parties. FRETILIN argues that the sucos are local
governments and that the Constituion's affirmation of political
parties therefore requires recognition of candidates, slates,
and platforms affiliated with political parties. Del Castillo
noted that since FRETILIN is the only political party with
grassroots organizations throughout the districts,
depoliticizing Suco elections may be a tactic by the AMP
coalition parties to avoid "a popular perception" of FRETILIN
support. For his part, CNE director Faustino Cardoso argued for
political party inclusion in the Suco elections.



AMP - FRETILIN Perspectives

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9. (SBU) During meetings with Poloff on February 26 (SBU),
Members of Parliament Aderito Hugo da Costa (National Congress
for Timorese Reconstruction - CNRT),and Mario Carrascalao
(Social Democratic Party - PSD) described both draft election
laws as the most important legislation pending before
Parliament, and stated that taken together the laws constitute a
framework for decentralization of authority. With respect to
the municipalities law, the AMP government plans to empower
local governments with budgetary authority. Under
decentralization, Sucos will be able to propose programs to be
funded by municipalities and sub-municipalities through their
own budgets rather than from the central government in Dili. Da
Costa and Carrascalao confirmed that the AMP is pushing for the
laws to "depoliticize" Suco elections by not permitting party
platforms.




10. (SBU) During a meeting with Poloff on March 6, FRETILIN MP
Ana Pessoa stated that the greatest challenge to implementing
decentralization at the municipal government level will be
capacity building and training for local governments to handle
and execute local budgets competently. She agreed with holding
municipal elections in four districts this year "to test" how
successful these systems are implemented before adopting them in
other districts. With regards to Suco elections, she warned of
the logistical difficulty of holding these throughout all Sucos
in one day. FRETILIN MP Jose Teixeira told us that any plans by
the AMP to eliminate party platforms from these Suco elections
would be unconstitutional and the party will fiercely oppose
this during plenary sessions.



Comment

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11. (SBU) In spite of the political and logistical challenges,
all political observers agreed on the urgency of holding the
elections prior to September 2009 when the current leadership
mandates at the Suco levels expire. All concurred with holding
municipal elections only in four districts this year as a "pilot
program" prior to further municipal elections in the remaining
nine districts in 2010 and 2011.
RECTOR