Africa-Press – Angola. A CPLP observation mission started Thursday (16th), in Dili, to assess the electoral process within the scope of the presidential elections in Timor-Leste, through various contacts with official entities.
Angola, as president of the CPLP, appointed its ambassador José Guerreiro Alves Primo to head the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), which includes diplomats from the Member States, employees of the organization’s Executive Secretariat and a delegation of Portuguese deputies, in representation of the community Parliamentary Assembly.
16 candidates are running for the presidential elections, including Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo, current President of the Republic, since 2017, and José Ramos-Horta, current leader of the Independent Revolutionary Front for East Timor (FRETILIN), who has already was a candidate for the presidency in 2007, 2012 and 2017. José Ramos Horta was President of the Republic, between 2007 and 2012, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 2002.
Also noteworthy, among the current candidates, are Father Martinho Gusmão, who left the priesthood to run for president, the former ambassador of Timor-Leste to the United States of America, Constâncio Pinto, as an independent, in addition to Lere Anan Timur , general and former Commander of the Armed Forces of Timor-Leste.
Also competing are Milena Pires, wife of the current Executive Secretary of the CPLP, Zacarias da Costa, as well as Isabel Ferreira, wife of the former Timorese President, Taur Matan Ruak, and Ângela Freitas, doctor and leader of the Timor-Leste Labor Party, who ran for the presidential elections in 2017.
The EOM remains in Timorese territory until the 27th of this month, having scheduled meetings with the candidates, with the authorities of the administration and electoral management, namely the National Commission of Elections (CNE) and the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Support (STAE).
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