Calendar for Presidential Election published by STAE
Minister of State and of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and
Official Spokesperson for the Government of Timor-Leste
Dili, January 27th, 2017
Calendar for Presidential Election published by STAE
Following the Presidential Decree of the 16th of January and in accordance with its legal obligations, the Technical Secretariat for Election Administration [STAE] has published the Election Calendar for the upcoming Presidential Election.
The election for the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is to take place on the 20th of March 2017.
Registration for candidates opened on the 17th of January and will close on the 5th of February. Candidates are to register with the President of the Court of Appeals and are advised to visit the Technical Secretariat for Election Administration or the Court of Appeals for further information.
After a process of verification and consideration of eligibility, which includes an appeal process, the Court will communicate the list of admitted candidates to the Technical Secretariat for Election Administration and the National Electoral Commission on the 18th of February 2017. The STAE will then publicly announce the candidates between the 19th and 21st of February.
The campaign period for the election is from the 3rd to the 17th of March 2017.
Following the poll on the 20th of March the National Electoral Commission will publish the provisional national results between the 26th and 28th of March.
When the final results of the 20th of March election are officially published on the 2nd of April in the Journal of the Republic, if it is found that no candidate has received more than half of total number of votes, a second round election will be held on the 20th of April 2017 where the two candidates obtaining the highest number of votes in the first round are eligible to stand, provided they have not withdrawn their candidacies.
The Technical Secretariat for Election Administration, with the support of Government and partners has begun a national campaign to advise citizens of the timetable and to encourage their participation.
Government Spokesperson, Minister of State Agio Pereira, noted “the freedom to exercise our democratic rights was won at great cost. This election period we are entering into, in a calm, organized and peaceful way, is a period we enter into with pride and purpose, mindful of those that have gone before us.”ENDS
