Max Lane
An eight-month election process for village councils has finished in East Timor. Although the village councils have no power and are primarily vehicles through which local people can articulate their opinions, the elections were contested by almost all parties.
The elections gave a picture of the changing balance between the four key parties, FRETILIN, the liberal Democratic Party (PD), the conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Socialist Party (PST). While FRETILIN won the largest number of village head positions from among the parties, the spread of votes showed that FRETILIN's voter base is steadily falling. In many areas, its votes were less than 50%.
In the last national elections, the PST won just over 1% of the vote. In these elections, standing in just 10% of available seats, the PST won 7% of the total 410,000 eligible votes. The PST received votes everywhere that it stood a candidate — including in villages where the party has never been active — indicating that it has now won a national presence.
In Dili, the PST had to retreat from its original plan to stand almost 500 candidates due to financial and logistical reasons. It stood candidates in only seven wards, winning a total of 8000 votes, mainly for candidates contesting positions to represent youth on the village councils. "The results augur well for the party to increase its standing in the 2007 elections", PST secretary general Avelino da Silva told Green Left Weekly. "We have built a national profile over the last four years, we are known now in every village, we have gathered 7% of the total national vote, and we have won outright in quite a few of the wards where we have stood candidates."
From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.
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