Timor Leste, which on March 19, 2022, held a presidential election ballot, is the country with the best democracy index score in Southeast Asia in the last decade. From the assessment of The Economist Intelligence Unit (2011-2021), Timor Leste, which just became independent in May 2002, has achieved many positive and accelerated political aspects. A number of things from the 2022 Timor Leste Presidential Election illustrate the suitability of the index and it is important to be a lesson for other countries.
“Journalists are free to access information and report. Until now, journalists have not experienced intimidation, terror and violence in covering the elections,” said President of Timor-Leste Journalist's Association (AJTL), Zevonia Vieira to Electionhouse.org (22/3).
Guarantee of press freedom
Zevonia believes that press freedom which is guaranteed when there is or is not an election is an important part in the achievement of Timor Leste's democracy index. According to her, the government resulting from the election guarantees press freedom in accordance with the existing constitution.
Country in Sout East Asia Democracy Index
Timor Leste 7.9
Malaysia 7.4
Indonesia 7.3
Philippines 7.3
Singapore 6.7
Thailand 6.2
Cambodia 4.5
Vietnam 3.5
Myanmar 3.4
Laos 2.4
Average 5.7
*Democracy Index of Each Country in Southeast Asia (2011-2021)
“In recent years, there has been a will by the government to criminalize news disinformation through the draft disinformation law. All parties refused. This bill is pending until now,” said the woman who usually writes on human rights and gender issues.
Not passing the disinformation law that can criminalize journalists is one of the reasons Timor Leste is a better democracy than its neighboring countries. Indonesia and the Philippines, which used to be the champions of democracy in Southeast Asia, experienced a decline in value because they had a law on information that had many criminal provisions. The freedom of the press and citizens' expression is damaged because it threatens and even makes citizens imprisoned.
Have many presidential candidates
The guarantee of freedom of political rights in running for president is also important as a lesson. Article 75 of the 2002 Timor Leste Constitution guarantees that all citizens aged 35 years and proposed by a minimum of five thousand citizens are eligible to vote, can run for president.
From 2002 to 2022, East Timor has held presidential elections five times. In the most actual elections, there are more and more presidential candidates. The 2022 Democratic Party, is the presidential election of Timor Leste with the highest number of candidates, with 16 candidates. 10 of them are candidates through independent path (non-political parties).
Candidate number 14, Jose Ramos Horta, supported by the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (NCTR) party, got the first most votes. Meanwhile, the candidate who received the second most votes was candidate number 6, Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo, who was promoted by the Fretilin Party (Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente). The two will continue to compete in the second round of the 2022 Timor Leste Presidential Election, whose voting will take place on April 19.
Election Year Number of Candidates
2002 2
2007 8
2012 11
2017 8
2022 16
*Number of Presidential Candidates in Timor Leste Election
In the previous presidential election, there were far fewer presidential candidates. In 2017, Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo (Fretilin Party) immediately won the presidential election with 57.08% of the vote defeating four party candidates and three independent candidates. In 2012, Taur Matan Ruak from the independent path actually won the presidential election by defeating 11 candidates, including Francisco Guterres (Fretilin Party) in the second round. Likewise in 2007, when Jose Ramos Horta from the independent path defeated seven other candidates, including Francisco Guterres (Fretilin Party).
Unlike the case with Timor Leste's first presidential election in 2002 which was facilitated by the United Nations. Xanana Gusmao from the independent path directly defeated another candidate, Francisco Xavier do Amaral from the ASDT Party (Associação Social-Democrata Timorense).
It can be seen from the achievements of the presidential election, that Timor Leste has given so much space for its citizens to run for office through independent path. The candidacy and election of the president of Timor Leste did not experience any intervention on the rights of the parliamentary political parties. Independent candidates are not only possible in the candidacy but can also win multiple times.
Women's Politics
Of the 16 candidates in the 2022 Timor Leste Presidential Election, four of them are women. There are Isabel da Costa Ferreira (Number 1), Angela Freitas (3), and Milena Pires (7) from the independent track. Then there is Armanda Berta dos Santos (9) who is supported by the KHUNTO Party (Kmanek Haburas Unidade National Timor Oan).
Armanda Berta almost went to the second round. The only female candidate from political party was in third place in the majority of votes.
Based on political participation figures, East Timorese female politicians are relatively more empowered than other Southeast Asian countries. Starting from the 2007 presidential election to 2022, there have always been women as presidential candidates, and there was even one who was ranked in the top three as the candidate with the most constituents.
Election Year Percentage of Women in Parliament
2007 29.2
2012 38.5
2018 38.5
*Percentage of Women in Timor Leste Parliament (Parlamento.tl)
The empowerment of women is related to the organization of political parties and parliament. Since the parliamentary elections were held in 2007, the representation of women in the Timor Leste parliament has always increased and has even exceeded the minimum representation of 30%. In detail, the results of the 2007 general elections were 19 women (29.2%), the results of the 2012 elections were 25 women (38.5%), and the results of the 2017 elections were 25 women (38.5%).
Youth become TPS (Polling Station) officers
Another aspect of the 2022 Timor Leste Presidential Election that is important to study is the efforts of the General Elections Commission to keep improving the service of the right to vote. One of them is through the involvement of youth as TPS officers.
"What is clear is how the election organizers recruited TPS officers from youth," said the representative of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Maharddhika as a member of The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) in the election monitoring mission in Timor Leste (21/ 3)..
Dhika explained that it is important for youth to be involved as TPS officers because they have high work resistance, are thorough, passionate, and idealistic. This situation in Timor Leste reminds hundreds of victims of TPS officers in the 2019 Indonesian elections.
According to ANFREL's press release on March 21, 2022, the 2022 Timor Leste Presidential Election were held peacefully and transparently. The enthusiasm of the festival of democracy was stand out at every polling station because many voters were willing to be part of the long queue to vote. More than 70 percent of citizens exercised their right to vote from a total of 859,613 names on the voter list. []
USEP HASAN SADIKIN
Source: https://electionhouse.org/post/read/87/belajar-dari-pemilu-presiden-timor-leste?lang=id
