UN-Truth

The UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) announced in a statement today that “while it recognizes that the first round of elections was not perfect, the consensus assessment was that they were free and fair … UNMIT also said that “considering that these are the first national elections which the Timorese authorities have ever conducted, they should be seen as a significant achievement”.

For most of the world’s media, however, the glass is half-empty. Most headlines read: “East Timor election fails most UN benchmarks“.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is reporting that “The first round of East Timor’s presidential election has failed to meet most of the benchmarks set out by a United Nations monitoring team. A report released by the (independent) team (put in place by) the UN secretary-general says improvements are needed in the election process before next week’s run-off vote. The team’s report found the election fully satisfied just 13 of 52 international benchmarks the team had established”.

Al-Jazeera, which follows the East Timor story closely, reported that the UN Mission, UNMIT, said that ” ‘The electoral benchmarks reflect international standards and full compliance with these standards is indeed a challenge not only to Timor-Leste (East Timor) but also to fledgling and established democracies’ … Failed benchmarks included not having clear regulations governing voter registration and vote counting. Actual vote counting had been secure and the process transparent, the report noted. It also said it was not mandated to make a judgement on whether the election had been free and fair. ‘The benchmarks do not represent an aspirational statement of achievable best practice: they simply encapsulate what is to be found in a typical well-run election’, it said”.

Filed under: East Timor, UN Peacekeeping, UN Secretary-General