Farram, Steven (2010). Locating Democracy: Representation, Elections and Governance in Timor-Leste. Darwin, N.T.: Charles Darwin University Press (CDU Press).
This book contains a selection of papers presented at a symposium, Locating Democracy: Representation, Elections and Governance, held in Dili on 26-27 April 2010. The symposium was organised in response to the local government and decentralisation reform policies of the Timor-Leste government. Part of the reform program is the establishment of municipal assemblies, with the aim of making democracy more representative. Four districts were being prepared for the first municipal elections to be held in the second half of 2010, with elections in the remaining nine districts to have been held in 2011. There has been much discussion about this process in Timor-Leste and it was considered that a symposium that brought together a range of stakeholders concerned with the reform program shortly before the associated laws were to be introduced to parliament would be a timely event. Only days before the symposium was to be held, however, the President, followed by the Prime Minister and various MPs, announced that more time was needed before the districts would be ready for municipal elections, and it was generally conceded that they were unlikely to take place before 2014. This turn of events did not inhibit symposium participants’ enthusiasm to be involved with the event, but rather led to spirited discussions about the whole reform process and a range of views were expressed on the best way forward. Erudition, clarity and a keen comprehension of the issues at hand were features of the presentations at the symposium and it is trusted that this selection of the papers brings those same qualities to the ongoing debate on this important subject.