Referendum
The European Union observed the popular referendum held on 30 August 1999 where an overwhelming majority of the people of Timor-Leste voted for independence from Indonesia. This was one of the first decisions of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy after the establishment of the EU competence by the Maastricht Treaty.
Before 2000, election observations were deployed and formated on an ad hoc political basis. Precise criteria whether to deploy or not, as well as detailled working structure and methodology were defined in the EC Communication COM2000(199).
