Vota Ba Futuru: Voter Perceptions from Dili and Venilale.
2007 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, Timor-Leste.
Vota ba Futuru (Voting for the Future): The Presidential and Parliamentary Elections 2007
Timeframe: 2007-ongoing
Researchers: Dr Damian Grenfell
Mayra Walsh
Victoria Stead
Kym Holthouse
Funding: The Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University
The Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Timor-Leste in 2007 provided an opportunity for research into the voter intentions of East Timorese. The aim of this project was not to find out who was voting for which party, nor was it a test of citizen knowledge. Rather, the research undertaken was an attempt to understand how citizenship might be concieved of in Timor-Leste; how do people make political decisions, how do they access information about different parties and the political process more generally, and in what respects do people see the process of democratic elections as positive.
This research project started with survey-based interviews being conducted with a cross-section of the population in Dili over the days just prior to the second Presidential vote. This method of short survey-based interviews was augmented by a limited set of in-depth semi-structured interviews. The same process of undertaking both survey-based and semi-structured interviews was repeated just prior to the Parliamentary vote, with the research location shifting to Venilale in the Baucau district.
It is hoped that while a small study Vota ba Futuru will allow for a more critical debate regarding the nature of East Timorese democracy.