For future elections, the legal framework, including all regulations and codes of conduct, should be in place well before the election day. Any amendments to the law should be made after a consultation process with stakeholders. Late amendments to the electoral law should not be made, in particular, controversial provisions. There should be public consultation and discussion before draft laws are introduced to parliament. Presidential and parliamentary election laws should be uniform in their provisions, particularly on counting. It is preferable to have one electoral law with separate chapters for presidential and parliamentary elections. There should be a Sub-Committee in charge of following the parliamentary discussions on electoral legislation and reforms.

The respective roles of STAE and CNE in making regulations and codes of conduct need to be clarified in the law in order to avoid disputes and delays

The election laws need to be amended to provide enforcement powers to the CNE. These would not include the power to deal with criminal offences, which can only be dealt with by the judicial system. CNE’s powers could include issuing administrative sanctions, such as are held by election authorities around the world. Alternatively, these powers could be held by a separate independent election complaints commission. Examples of the types of powers that the CNE could have include:
- To view and to obtain copies of any documents or material held electronically by STAE or by any other government body concerned with administering the elections;
- To seek court orders requiring any organisation to comply with its legal obligations in relation to the elections;
- To issue administrative fines to candidates, parties, media outlets;
- To suspend from campaigning or from broadcasting for a certain period those candidates, parties or coalitions who violate the electoral laws and regulations;
- To remove candidates from who commit serious violations of the laws; full procedurals guaranties and right to appeal must be given to all candidates, the law must clearly stipulate each of the siuations when this removal will be legally possible (this is a controversial power, as it can damage the election authority’s perceived impartiality; it may be preferable for another body, such as the courts, or an independent election complaints commission, to have this power);
- To revoke the accreditation of an observer or party agent who violates the laws;
- To recommend or order the disciplining of electoral staff who commit irregularities. Another option would be for the CNE to publicise more widely the letters that it writes to violators (cartas de repreensão or avisos), so that the public and the media become aware, and this would help to apply moral pressure.

The Campaign Regulation prohibited political appointees and public officials from participating in campaigning during their official functions, but was frequently violated. Either the law needs to be amended to allow such people to campaign or the law should distinguish among positions of different levels or their compliance with the law needs to be made clear (for example, by providing evidence to the CNE of their being on leave and acting outside official functions).

Clear guidelines should be provided by the CNE on the details that it needs from candidates in relation to monitoring their accounts, one of CNE’s tasks according to the law. General requirements were specified in the Campaign Regulation, but specific details were not given. These are needed if such provisions are to be enforced equitably and properly.

Candidates and parties’ agreements committing them for a fair campaigning and the avoidance of violence should be enforceable. Furthermore, codes of conduct should be enshrined in the electoral laws, rather than be signed before each electoral period.

The EU EOM recommends that the CNE make publicly available more information about the complaints received and how they are resolved. For the presidential and parliamentary elections, only general statistics were available, without more details. Although there was an improvement in the parliamentary elections with a regular bulletin being available on the CNE’s website, only classification of complaints was available, sometimes –but not always- with their resolution. This should be developed for future elections and should provide substantive details.

The appointment of secretariat staff for the CNE needs to be carried out very carefully and in strict compliance with criteria of impartiality and merit, given its importance as an independent institution. So far UN staff have been completing these tasks. The secretariat should include a translation unit.

The CNE Commissioners should have specific portfolios. For instance, there could be focal points for donor relations, relations with the Parliamentary Sub-Committee mentioned above, relations with observers, and so on.

Capacity building for STAE and CNE should be strengthened with mutual visits, exchange of information and transfer of know-how with Portugal and Australia (being the countries which have the closest donor relations with on Timor-Leste) and membership in regional electoral authorities.

A standard model used in many countries would be for the CNE to be responsible for taking all policy decisions, and for STAE to be the implementing body. Clarifying this issue would reduce conflict and speed up processes. In any case, deadlines before the election day need to be provided by which key decisions should be taken, and beyond which regulations cannot be approved.

The two electoral bodies have to be fully functional all the time, maintaining a basic skeleton of staff at head quarters and district level, as elections can happen at any time.

The CNE’s decisions are required by law to be publicised, and this needs to happen in every case. It would also be helpful to publish the minutes of their meetings, and to allow party representatives to attend their meetings, without voice or vote.

A new system of polling staff selection should be considered, prioritising previous electoral experience and literacy and numeric skills. It is common in many countries for school teachers to form the bulk of polling staff. This is apparently not possible in Timor because of restrictions on public officials being polling staff. This rule could be relaxed in the case of teachers. This process should be under the direct supervision of the CNE.

In future, checks should be made against the voter register database before a person obtains a new or replacement voter’s card, in order to try and prevent duplicate cards from being issued.

In the law, civil registration exists under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, including provision for an identity card, but this has never been implemented. STAE has the field personnel to carry out and maintain a registration process.

Lastly, there should be a voter’s list broken down by polling station with special provisions for IDPs in case they are still displaced for the next election.

The law should clearly specify what symbols may be used on the ballot paper, and should not allow more than one candidate to use the same symbol. If several candidates wish to do so, a lottery should be held.

The following steps should be taken to improve procedures on election day:
i. The voter’s finger should be checked for ink before voting;
ii. Young voters’ cards should be checked to see if they are 17;
iii. Clear procedures should be produced on how to assist illiterate or disabled voters;
iv. Greater staff training and voter education on valid and invalid votes is needed to avoid inconsistency in the identification of invalid ones;
v. Ballot papers should be provided with numbered stubs to assist in accounting for them, as was done for the parliamentary elections;
vi. The polling station minutes (Actas de Operasaun) and any ballots not used (unused, cancelled) should be considered sensitive material.

The election laws should be amended and the CNE should pass a regulation to ensure that the publication of results is detailed and accurate. In particular:
i. Copies of each polling station minutes (Acta de Operasaun) should be made available to candidate or party agents at the polling station.
ii. If counting takes place at polling stations, greater efforts should be made to ensure that the minutes are displayed at each polling centre immediately after the count.
iii. Detailed preliminary and final results should be published in due time in newspapers, announced to the media, and posted on the CNE’s website. An electronic copy on CDs could be made available to candidates and parties and to observers. A clear explanation should be given of the tabulation process, and why results may change during district and national tabulation.
iv. When publishing partial, preliminary or final results the CNE should publish all available data, including results for all candidates, the total number of votes cast, and the number of invalid ballots.
v. When publishing preliminary or final results, the results should be broken down by district and polling station.
vi. Candidates and parties should be given the detailed breakdown of preliminary results as soon as they are announced, because they only have 24 hours to present an appeal against them.

Although freedom of the Press is guaranteed by the Constitution, the activities of the media should be regulated by specific legislation. This legislation should establish rights and duties for the media, the rules for access to the journalism profession, and provisions to discourage and prevent intimidation or attacks against journalists. An independent media authority that includes representatives of the media should be established.

As Tetum is still in a process of consolidation, the media has a relevant role in its promotion. Media organisations should adopt the standards of Tetum developed and approved by the National Institute of Linguistics to avoid the ad hoc usage of terms from different linguistic sources, which creates confusion in the public.

For future elections, election authorities should monitor the media coverage of the election campaign to ensure compliance with legal provisions, namely the right for candidates and political parties to have equal airtime. A clear framework that specifies how to make complaints against unfair media coverage, and the possible sanctions that can be applied, should be adopted. Reports of the election authorities’ media monitoring should be published.

Revoir le découpage électoral afin de rééquilibrer la représentation des populations. A défaut de recensement des populations, les évaluations actuelles s’avérant peu précises, l’allocation des sièges attribués aux circonscriptions pourrait être établie sur base du fichier électoral, lequel constitue une base consensuelle. Il importe également d’examiner si l’actuelle base utilisée, à savoir les préfectures, peut effectivement permettre une allocation compatible avec l’usage de la proportionnelle du fait du nombre relativement réduit de sièges en jeu (81). Dans cet esprit, il serait utile de considérer la possibilité d’instituer des circonscriptions régionales, dont la taille serait plus propice à un fonctionnement effectif du mécanisme de la proportionnelle.

Dans le cadre de cette consolidation, adapter et compléter le Code électoral afin de mieux tenir compte des caractéristiques du système proportionnel, notamment en ce qui concerne l’enregistrement des listes de candidats ou le calendrier légal.