As the people of Timor-Leste are now preparing for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the first such elections to be administered by the young democracy, USAID’s partners are on the ground providing the much-needed technical assistance.

The International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) has recently concluded an intensive three-day (Febuary 16-18) training for members of the National Election Commission (CNE), the independent oversight body, to help them understand the roles and responsibilities of the commission. The CNE members, most of them new to the job, face challenges immediately in providing a timely review of the electoral regulations and providing adequate oversight in the districts during the voter registration process, currently under way. Other USAID partners working in the election area—the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI)--also collaborated on the training.

“[Electoral work] will be a new experience for the rest of us, and we appreciate the training conducted by IFES, which we found sufficient and relevant. Some of the presentations were oriented at, among other things, helping CNE members draft relevant regulations within the country’s legal framework,” said Commissioner Angelina Lopes Sarmento.

The Commission’s 15 Members were appointed by the President of the Republic, National Parliament, Judiciary and Government, and include representatives from religious groups and women’s organizations, among others.

IFES will be replicating the training course for the 52 focal points for the CNE, from all 13 districts, on February 26-28. In addition, IFES, in response to a request by the USAID-assisted Timor-Leste Media Development Centre and International Centre for Journalists, will conduct a training on February 22-23 for community radio journalists on media coverage of the elections.

Since 2001, IFES has provided a variety of technical assistance aimed at improving the electoral process in Timor-Leste. IFES’s work has focused on building the capacity of the key electoral agencies--the CNE and the Technical Secretariat for Election Administration (STAE). IFES assisted the CNE by supporting commissioners in monitoring and reporting on the voter registration and election processes for the suco (village) and aldeia (sub-village) elections. IFES has also provided technical support to STAE in the creation and maintenance of a national voter registry.