For the first time the Timor-Leste government will allow its citizens living overseas to vote in the 2017 general elections.
According to the law no. 6/2016, the Secretariat for Technical and Electoral Administration (STAE) is responsible for registering Timorese people living overseas to vote.
STAE Acting Director Tulia Onorina said the registration system for voters both inside and outside the country had already been prepared.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened registration and voting to Timorese citizens living in four countries: England, Indonesia, Korea and Australia.
Onorina said registrations had not yet opened in Indonesia due to an ongoing political issue and so registration process would start in the other three countries first.
She said it was still unclear when registration would open in Indonesia as the Indonesian government does not recognize dual citizenship.
A large number of Timorese began living in Indonesia during the occupation (1975-1999) and have since become Indonesian citizens.
Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Hernani Coelho said the registration process had already started at Timor-Leste’s foreign embassies for students and workers in the countries where they lived.
The process involves three phases: consular registration, electoral registration and voting.
He said the registration was the government’s obligation, but voters were free to decide if they participated or not.
“We will not set up a polling center just for 10 people, it is impossible because it costs a lot of money,” he said.
He said the majority of Timorese people living abroad were based in Australia, Portugal, England, Korea and Indonesia, mostly for work and study.
