East Timor elections 'going smoothly'

April 9, 2007 - 3:02PM

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/east-timor-elections-going-smoothly/20070909-6lp.html

Elections in East Timor are proceeding peacefully, the commander of the Australian-led international forces says.

Brigadier Mal Rerden said he was not aware of any security incidents in Dili or surrounding districts, as East Timorese voters headed to the polls to elect a new president.

"It's going very well," he told Sky News.

"There's been plenty of people at the polling booth but no problems, no incidents from a security point of view at all.

"Things are very calm at the moment."

Australian soldiers were providing backup to UN and local police throughout the country, he said.

Eight candidates are vying to replace charismatic independence fighter Xanana Gusmao in the largely ceremonial president's job.

Unless one of the candidates vying for the presidency gets more than 50 per cent of the vote, there will be a further round of elections on May 9.

Brigadier Rerden said the soldiers were keeping a closer eye on areas that had experienced tension in the past.

Locals generally appreciated the presence of the Australian soldiers, he said, and considered them a politically neutral security force.

"Overall, I think it's been a very good response from the community," he said.

"Things have been very good. I think on all sides of the political spectrum there is a recognition that election day is a day for people to have their choice and to participate in free and fair elections and that's what's happening out on the ground."

"In the event that something does happen we have a very robust response planned that will allow us to quickly control the situation and return to calm."

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has said Australian troops will remain in East Timor at least until June or July, so they are present for parliamentary elections that could increase tensions in the country.

On Monday, Mr Downer said he hoped the people of East Timor would accept the result of the presidential election.

"We are obviously pleased to see this exercise in democracy taking place in East Timor," he said.

"To the best of our knowledge polling is so far going smoothly.

"Our expectation is that the more difficult period is going to be when the results of this ballot are announced.

"There are going to be people who are disappointed with the result and those people have to accept the voice of the people, the majority of the people."

A team of Australian observers is in East Timor, led by the federal member for Solomon in the Northern Territory, Dave Tollner.

Mr Downer said they would prepare a report on the election and he would also wait until the judgment of teams from the United Nations and the European Union were in before drawing any conclusions on the fairness of the poll.

"We don't have a view at this stage that the election has been unfair," he said.

"There has been a bit of violence, but generally speaking the campaign has been conducted in a reasonably civilised way."