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E. Timor to Draft First Constitution
The National Council of East Timor has approved a regulation to elect an 88-member Constituent Assembly to draft the territory's first constitution, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the United Nations Transitional Administration (UNTAET).
The regulation was approved Monday in a meeting chaired by council speaker Xanana Gusmao with a vote of 17 in favor, five abstaining and none against, a UN spokesman quoted UNTAET as saying.
The regulation provides that the elected assembly will prepare and adopt a constitution in a period of 90 days. All persons born in East Timor and aged 17 or above are eligible to vote. UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello is expected to sign the regulation soon.
East Timor, with an area of 14,874 square kilometers and a population of 800,000, broke away with Indonesia in the wake of a U.N.-sponsored self-determination ballot in August 1999, which resulted in favor of independence.
Violence followed the ballot, prompting the U.N. to send peacekeeping troops there. UNTAET was established two months later to help it transit to independence.
The transition process is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
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