World praises East Timor's peaceful poll

World praises East Timor's peaceful poll

DILI, East Timor (AFP): East Timorese won world praise on
Friday for their peaceful and hugely enthusiastic response to the
territory's first free election.

Final turnout in Thursday's ballot was 91 percent, the United
Nations' chief electoral officer, Carlos Valenzuela. said.

From 16 parties and five independent candidates, voters were
choosing an 88-member constituent assembly.

The assembly will draft a constitution and become the national
parliament by early December, in preparation for independence by
mid-2002.

Polling was tranquil with only minor incidents involving
crowds agitated by slow identification procedures, Valenzuela
said.

Provisional results are expected by Sept. 5 but will not be
confirmed until Sept. 10.

The party at the core of East Timor's 24-year resistance
struggle against Indonesian rule, Fretilin, is expected to
dominate the polls. It is predicting around 85 percent of the
votes.

Some 500 foreign observers joined 1,000 local observers in
monitoring the vote. The largest of the foreign observer groups,
the 40-strong European Union team, assessed the poll as "totally"
free and fair.

"We congratulate the East Timorese for how they showed their
democratic intentions and for the peaceful manner in which they
conducted this election," Wolfgang Kreissel-Doerfler, the EU'S
chief observer, told AFP.

"We have received no information of serious incidents or
shortcomings concerning the conduct of elections."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer congratulated the East
Timorese for successfully holding free and peaceful elections,
saying they opened the way for democracy and lasting stability.

The European Union congratulated the people of East Timor and
their leaders, "who have embarked upon a long independence
process, now bringing its reward."

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hailed the vote as
a "glowing example to the world community."

The United States also welcomed the spirit in which the poll
was conducted.

"Early reports indicate a very smooth and peaceful process and
an extremely high voter turnout. Many voters waited for hours in
the hot sun for their turn to cast a ballot," State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday.

The poll brings the impoverished territory a crucial step
closer to independence after more than four centuries of
oppressive rule by foreign powers.

Portugal's colonial rule wound down in 1974. In December 1975,
nine days after East Timorese leaders declared independence,
Indonesia invaded.

An estimated 200,000 East Timorese died under Jakarta's 24-
year rule, which came to a violent end two years ago after a UN-
organized plebiscite.

Almost 80 percent of East Timorese voted in the August 1999
ballot to break away from Indonesia, triggering a wave of killing
and systematic destruction by Indonesian-backed local militias.

On Thursday the East Timorese came out again to vote, many
casting their ballots in buildings still in ruins after the 1999
violence.

They will return to the polls early next year to elect a
president, widely expected to be independence hero Xanana Gusmao.
Full independence will be granted either when the president is
announced or shortly after.

Nobel peace laureate Carlos Ximenes Belo, the Bishop of Dili,
has called the poll part of a "journey from slavery to liberation
and independence."

In Jakarta, Indonesia hailed the first elections in East
Timor, describing it as an "important step" toward nationhood.

"We welcome the election in East Timor which was held
peacefully, smoothly and orderly," Foreign Minister Hassan
Wirayuda told reporters.

"We deem it important because that way a constituent assembly
and the constitution can soon be established," he added.

Wirayuda said Jakarta would remain consistent with "forward-
looking and good-neighbor policy".