Timor-Leste’s electoral law in Lisbon received “great support” and many young people.

The Timorese legislative election process is taking place this Sunday at the Timor-Leste embassy in Lisbon, where there is “great support”, including many young people who have come to Portugal in search of better living conditions.

“From 7:00 a.m. until now [cerca das 11h00], there were many participants, mostly from young people. Everything goes well. No problem. There are no problems so far,” Marina Ribeiro Alkatiri, Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), said in a statement to Lusa.

Accompanying the electoral process in person at the Timor-Leste embassy in Lisbon, where Timorese could vote until 3:00 pm, Marina Ribeiro Alkatiri stressed that “this time the elections are taking place here in the presence of many young people,” linking this to the recent influx of emigration to Portugal.

To help “many” newly arrived Timorese, the Embassy of Timor-Leste provided information “at all levels” about the electoral process through a Facebook post and links to bases in Portugal.

However, there are young people who complain that they cannot vote this Sunday because they have not registered, the ambassador said on site.

Dino Pereira, 25, sitting on a wall in front of the Timor-Leste embassy in Lisbon, on Largo dos Jeronimos, along with dozens of other young Timorese, says he came to Portugal eight months ago, decided to come alone, without any work agreement, in search of better living conditions.

“There are no jobs in Timor and also the minimum wage is 115 euros,” said a young Timorese in statements to Luce.

The first four months in Portugal, especially in Lisbon, were very difficult because I didn’t have a job, I didn’t speak Portuguese, I only spoke Tetum, the national and one of the official languages ​​of Timor-Leste, after all “sleeping on the beach near the Terreiro Palace”.

Over time, he began to learn Portuguese, being able to communicate, he entered the Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP), found a job and received a residence permit, and now sleeps in a football hall, near Sete Rios, in Lisbon, which it shares with “many Timorese”, where 200 to 300 people live.

Despite all the hardships associated with his admission to Portugal, Dino Pereira managed to exercise his right to vote in the Timorese elections and admitted that regardless of the election results, he still wants to stay in Lisbon for at least five years in order to obtain Portuguese citizenship , because the minimum wage is higher than in Timor-Leste, even though the goal is to emigrate to the United Kingdom, but today “it is very difficult” due to the country’s exit from the European Union.

With a different life story, 18-year-old Timorese Tania da Cruz has been in Lisbon for seven months, where she is just a student. He came with his family because his father was assigned to work at the embassy for a period of three years.

It was the “first time” he participated in an electoral act. He considered the choice among the 17 parties contesting this legislative election “very easy” and wished that the outcome would bring “peace and stability” to Timor-Leste, although he expressed a desire to stay in Portugal because living conditions are better there.

Still wiping ink from her finger after voting, 61-year-old Leonilde Pinto has been in Portugal for more than three decades, having been forced to leave Timor-Leste due to the Indonesian invasion through the International Red Cross.

“I really hope that with these elections the situation will improve significantly again,” the Timorese complained, saying that the act of voting is a right and a way to “bring continuity” to the process that secured the country’s independence.

Leonilde Pinto hopes that the results of these elections will be a “good change” for Timor, mainly in terms of reconstruction and development of the country, noting that one of the problems is unemployment, which has led to recent emigration flows to Portugal, given the “very sad” that young Timorese become homeless when they come in search of a better future.

Working at the Timor-Leste embassy in Lisbon, Mario Batista, 51, came to Portugal with his family, they arrived six months ago, and this Sunday he participated in the elections because “it’s a civil right”, every five years people choose the party they want to run the country.

“While Timor is going through a crisis situation exacerbated by the pandemic as well as natural disasters, it is recovering economically. […]”, the Timorese said, believing that economic recovery could bring political stability.

“As far as I have seen it, both here in Lisbon and in Timor, the situation at the moment is stable, calm and peaceful, so there was no confusion during the elections,” he said.

Timor-Leste’s legislative elections are contested by 17 parties, whose votes may take several days to be counted. More than 890,000 voters have been registered to vote, during which 65 deputies of the national parliament will be elected.

Eight parties have seats in parliament and one will make its debut, and political forces must receive more than 4% of valid votes to be elected deputies.

On Election Day, there will be the largest number of voters in the country and in the diaspora, as well as the largest number of polling stations.

Thousands of observers from Timor-Leste and several countries, as well as hundreds of journalists, were accredited to observe the voting.