Yesterday was another quiet one – just as you would expect from an Easter weekend. Not that I looked, but I don’t even recall seeing Easter eggs in shops. This is a good thing.

I am not expecting any trouble until tomorrow – election day. There still may be none but somehow once the results start rolling in, I think that will lift tensions, particularly if there are some surprise results.

Voting starts at 7am and goes until 4pm. Voters select one candidate only. Voters can vote at any polling place in the country provided they have their voter registration card or passport. A finger is dipped in indelible ink to record that a voter has done the job and to prevent the “vote early, vote often” syndrome.

There has been a high level of party politics associated with this election, which at the end of the day, is for a president who actually wields very little power. I think it was a major frustration for Xanana Gusmao to find people queueing up to see him with problems and being unable to do anything about it. The presidential role here seems more analogous to “governor-general” in the Commonwealth system but the term “president” here carries a weight far less than say a US president in power terms.

I can recall the issue of a popular vote for Australia’s GG (governor-general). Given the role has no real power over political outcomes (except under exceptional circumstances), I shuddered at the thought of the major parties putting forward candidates for another political stoush. I sort of prefer it that the GG is appointed and just disappears into the background, spending life shaking hands and having lots of cups of tea … and occasionally gets drunk at the races.

In the interests of continuity, I will try to be good and post daily until the election results are out at the end of next week.

I don’t need to do much as there are international press crawling all over the place looking for a story. The hotels are full and its not because of the holiday weekend.

Yesterday was completely uneventful for me and I have to resort to UN security reports to tell me if anything happened. No-one talked about anything out of the ordinary so I assumed nothing more than the usual occasional rock and abuse. Most of the longer-term expat residents don’t tend to talk much about the small incidents.

By the look of the candidate supporters, there would appear to be a certain proportion of hangers-on looking for a good time. Many looked curiously similar to the same hangers-on around some of the gang fights. For this reason, I am not going to be surprised to hear of the occasional altercation when rival supporters cross paths. This stuff may well be outside the candidate’s control.

Officially, the campaigning is over. I am told that Fretilin supporters are camping out down at Tasi Tolu which is about 8kms west of the centre of town. (I will guess and say in the racecourse area.) I assume other candidate’s supporters are doing the same at various points around the place. One of these groups will end up having a big party next week. Who knows if these groups will stick together right through until next Friday when a final result is expected.

As for me today, a bit of body maintenance may be required and without the peak minute traffic, a bit of sucking in the silence.

Nothing like a big presidential campaign to unclog writer’s block. The candidates were all back in town today. The Fretilin rally was at 10am at the raceway in Comorro, the Lasama rally at Democracy field at 2pm and the Horta rally at the Stadium at 2pm. (I understand the Lucia Lobato rally was yesterday.)

There was also a large crowd milling about in front of the World Bank outside Xavier do Amaral’s house (which is next-door to the WB building). All this added up to a bit of traffic carnage today. Getting around by car was a general pain in the neck, with roads blocked to cater for the associated fleets of supporters moving about in convoy.

I ended up traveling down streets I never usually use to try to get about. It provided further evidence that there really are very few campaign posters on display IN Dili. Last weekend, I went for a Sunday drive to Liquica and beyond. It was quite noticeable that houses in the countryside often had candidate posters on front doors, walls and gates. No-one seems to want to show their hand here in Dili. Better to shut up than to give someone an excuse to abuse you over your voting preference.

In the Liquica/Maubara area, the general feel was that Ramos Horta had the most posters followed by Lucia Lobato.

You couldn’t help but notice the racket from the rallies at Democracy field and the stadium. I stuck my nose into both, and despite the frenzied atmosphere at times, I felt fine. There were quite a few “international press” at the rallies, particularly at the stadium. President Xanana Gusmao and his family attended the Ramos Horta rally which was dominated by CNRT flags but there appeared to be Partido Millenium Democratico and Fretilin Mudanca supporters (or just tshirt wearers).

It was a bit of a battle getting home as Fretilin supporters were moving about town all afternoon in convoy. Based on the age cross-section of those in the Fretilin convoy, the age distribution was definitely skewed towards the male 15 to 25 years old bracket. Both the Lasama and Ramos Horta rallies seemed to have a much broader age distribution.

I am told there were a few rock fights during the day and altercations between Fretilin and other supporters including the use of tear gas, but although I heard sounds indicating trouble at a distance, I saw nothing.

For once, Dili is not dominating the entire attention of everything here in TL. Election campaigning commenced in earnest on 23 March, with presidential candidates moving about the countryside, and according to campaign schedules, appears to indicate a return to Dili on about 4 April, presumably for a major campaign here.

News reports show that the usual political bagging of opponents occurs here like everywhere else. There are a few claims of breaking election rules and the odd bit of roughing up of opponent’s supporters. But for the moment, this seems to be happening on the countryside campaign trail.

In most respects, Dili is very quiet. The Fatuhada area appears to be the only area where there have been regular security incidents of late. Perhaps the introduction of a permanent police station in Bairo Pite has helped keep Bairo Pite quieter. There seems to be nothing to suggest that one should be particularly concerned about moving about in general.

Campaign supporters are seen at off intervals moving about Dili on open-topped trucks, waving a few flags and doing the odd bit of chanting. It just looks like this is just a bit of a reminder to keep things going until the candidates return to Dili in a few days time.

I have seen Fretilin and Lu’Olu posters in a few places but for the moment, that’s all I have seen and some of these have already been partially removed. Based on the streets, you would hardly know an election is a week away.

According to the campaign schedules, the candidates ought to be back here on Wednesday, giving 4 days of campaigning here.