---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S UNAMET UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN EAST TIMOR Misi Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa Di Timor Timur Briefing Summary for Tuesday, 24 August 1999 UNAMET Spokesman David Wimhurst informed correspondents that the period of challenging registration lists, which lasted from 19 to 23 August, ended yesterday. During that period 27 challenges were received, all from the Suai region. The Independent Electoral Commission will look at these challenges as soon as the documentation is received in Dili, most probably today. Confidential hearings will then be heard by the Commission for each of the protests. In addition to the challenges received by UNAMET, 120 appeals were made during the registration period and shortly afterwards. The vast majority of those appeals have been accepted by the Independent Electoral Commission. Overall, UNAMET has received 147 challenges and appeals out of an electoral list of over 438,000. In response to a question, the Spokesman said UNAMET's Chief Electoral Officer has rejected applications from 24 Indonesian organizations to be observers, which accounts for approximately 200 people. A correspondent asked for the schedule for vote counting. Mr. Wimhurst said the ballot boxes will be closed at 4:00 p.m. on 30 August. If for any reason people are still waiting on line at that time, or if voting has been disrupted in any polling station, UNAMET will reopen those polling stations on 31 August. The ballot boxes will be kept overnight at the polling stations where they are being used and will be transported by CivPol and Polri escort early the next morning to the regional headquarters and then on to the counting location in Dili. Once all the ballot boxes have been collected in the one counting location, the counting will begin. Once the counting is completed, the results will go to the Independent Electoral Commission and from there on to the Secretary-General in New York. The whole process should take up to a week. A correspondent asked how international observers would be able to monitor the ballot if security conditions caused them to withdraw. The Spokesman said as of now there are approximately 1,400 registered international observers. He said UNAMET is not responsible for them other than to accredit them. They are free to observe the entire electoral process wherever they want. If they decide to leave ahead of the ballot for whatever reason that is their prerogative, although the vote will go ahead on 30 August and UNAMET will be carrying out its work on that day. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Aug 1999 jam 12:10:48 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
