02 July 2009

Dili, Timor-Leste: A total of 62 international UNV volunteers have arrived in Timor Leste to support the coming local elections, to meet a request of the Government of Timor-Leste.

For the 2009 village elections the Electoral Management Bodies, the National Commission on Elections (CNE) and the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), have requested 62 UNV volunteers to cover five different areas of support such as: field operations, logistics, civic and voter education and monitoring.

The UN Electoral Support Team (UN EST) together with the UNV Support Unit from the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) have been working to identify suitable candidates, and on 23 June 2009 the first 20  arrived in Timor-Leste.

The second group is expected to arrive on 10 July 2009 and the third group is expected to arrive on 24 July.

UNV volunteers have played an important support role for all the electoral processes organized in Timor-Leste starting with the Popular Consultation in 1999. The role of the electoral UNV volunteers has been widely appreciated by both the national authorities and the UN system.

More than 250 UNV volunteers from 70 countries assisted throughout the electoral process in April, May and June 2007.

They served as elections advisers in Dili and the districts working with the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) on logistics, voter registration, voter education and training. They also worked with the National Elections Commission (CNE) in its supervisory role. On Election Day, the UNV volunteers were on the ground throughout the country to help ensure the smooth flow of the process.

Timor-Leste’s  President, Dr. José Ramos-Horta said in 2007: “the role played by the UNV volunteers was crucial to the success of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Timor-Leste.”