“The PST has increased its vote slightly on its results in 2000", Avelino Coelho da Silva, secretary-general of the Socialist Party of Timor, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly by telephone from Dili. Coelho was the PST’s candidate in the country’s April 9 presidential election, the final results of which will be officially announced by the National Election Commission (CNE) on April 16.
Timor-Leste (East Timor)
East TimorÂ’s presidential election campaign is now officially underway. Voting will be held on April 9. Max Lane spoke by phone with presidential candidate Avelino Coelho, secretary-general of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST).
On April 9, East Timor will hold its second presidential election, which will be followed by parliamentary elections. The East Timorese political system combines a president, who is commander-in-chief of the army and who has veto powers over legislation, with an executive cabinet headed by a prime minister who is elected by the parliament.
The situation remains tense in East TimorÂ’s capital, Dili, in the wake of the Australian Defence Force-led operation on March 4 to capture renegade East Timorese army officer Major Alfredo Reinado.
Australian soldiers fired on three youths in Dili on February 23. One youth died at the scene — a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) near Dili Airport. The others were injured; one later died in hospital.
The United Nations Independent Special Commission of Inquiry released its report on October 17 into the violent conflict in April and May in East Timor. The 79-page report found that the “frailty of state institutions and the weakness of the rule of law” were to blame for the conflict that erupted following the sacking of almost 600 soldiers from the Timorese Defence Force.
Around 200 East Timorese protesters were attacked on April 9 by police, including special branch paramilitary forces.
East Timorese foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta's defence of Washington's
"aggressive strategy" towards Iraq is not a surprise. Horta's approach
to diplomacy throughout the struggle for East Timor's independence was
always based on offering assurances to the US government that an independent
East Timor would be friendly towards US interests. This approach was bound
to lead to major defects of memory (and analysis) once independence was
achieved. These defects are most evident in his article "War for peace?
It worked in my country", published in the Sydney Morning Herald
and the Age on February 25.
Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly's JON LAND spoke to MAX LANE, national secretary of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor about the latest developments towards self-determination for East Timor.
Despite staunch opposition from the East Timorese people and increasing international pressure, Indonesia stubbornly maintains its illegal occupation of East Timor.
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