Village chiefs (chefe do suco) in Bobonaro District took the opportunity of a special meeting recently to find out more about the upcoming elections, the first-ever nationwide local elections in Timor-Leste. Voters in the country's 433 villages and around 3,000 subvillages will elect village chiefs, subvillage chiefs, and village councils.

The village chiefs came to Maliana, Bobonaro's capital, for the swearing in of Leonel de Jesus Carvalho as the new district administrator. Senior Minister of State for State Administration Ana Pessoa Pinto also attended the meeting. Her office has responsibility not only for the district administrators, but also for the administration of elections in Timor-Leste.

At the meeting Tomas do Rosario Cabral, director of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) in the Ministry of State Administration, explained STAE's activities in the run-up to the local elections, planned to start in the western districts of Timor-Leste in April 2004. Among STAE first tasks will be to conduct surveys to find the most suitable locations for polling stations and to register voters and candidates. In Bobonaro, these activities will be coordinated through District Administrator Carvalho's office.

Minister Pessoa and Director Cabral answered a range of questions from the village chiefs. Among them were concerns about the participation of women in the electoral process. A few village chiefs said that traditional leaders had complained to them that long-standing cultural restrictions prohibit women not only from taking part in the selection of candidates, but also from becoming candidates or taking office as village chief.

In response, Pessoa and Cabral reminded the village chiefs that Timor-Leste's constitution, which guarantees equal political rights for women, takes precedence over local traditions. They advised the village chiefs to encourage those traditional leaders to both respect the constitution as the nation's highest law and accept the will of the people if they elect a woman to represent them.

STAE is preparing for the upcoming elections with meetings in Oecusse, Covalima, and Bobonaro. Work in Timor-Leste's other ten districts will follow. USAID supports STAE and its activities with direct grants totaling $12,880. Through a USAID partnership with the International Foundation for Election Systems, STAE also receives on-going technical assistance. STAE's work helps establish the democratic process across Timor-Leste from the local to the national level. It expands individuals' and communities' political participation and strengthens the country's electoral system. Other USAID-funded programs have provided leadership training to women in the districts to better prepare women to participate actively in local elections through their political parties or as independent candidates.