VZCZCXRO7429
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHHM
DE RUEHDT #0079/01 0711134
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121134Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY DILI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4323
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0992
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1266
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 1107
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0933
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1104
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 3841

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 
 
DILI 00000079  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶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 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
-------------- 
 
 
 
¶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. 
 
 
DILI 00000079  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
---------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
DILI 00000079  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
--------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
-------- 
 
 
 
¶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