Political party members lack knowledge of the Public Subsidy Budget which is provided by the National Electoral Commission to registered Timorese political parties.
Electoral Commissioner Joana Dulce Vitor said communities were surprised when the commission’s teams arrived to conduct budget observation.
“This money can be used to provide civic education for partymembers,” she said.
The money must be used to fund party advertising and administrative costs.
“None of the parties have informed their members about the subsidy,” Vitor said.
CNRT Member of Parliament (MP) Albina Marcal from National Congress Reconstruction of Timor recognized that her party did not have a program to provide civic education to its members.
She said in future, the budget would be used to provide civic education to party members in order to increase transparency.
Fretilin MP Aurelio Freitas Ribeiro saidparty members needed to know about the money to increase transparency.
“So far, Fretilin hasn’t done this but perhaps we will do so in the future,” he said.
