Vote shows nation's political impasse
>> Vote counting was underway in East Timor's presidential elections Saturday with two former fighters for independence — one current and one former president — considered to be the frontrunners, each accusing the other of causing a yearslong political paralysis.
Ahead of the election day, former President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had a lead over incumbent Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres in an opinion survey. Four women were among 13 other candidates, the highest number of women taking part in the fifth election since East Timor won independence from Indonesia 20 years ago.
Official results were not expected until Thursday.
“I am confident that I will win the election again,” Guterres told reporters after casting his vote in Dili, the capital. “I call on people to accept whatever the result and I am ready to work with whoever wins this election.”
Guterres, 67, is from the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor party, known by its local acronym Fretilin. RamosHorta, 72, is backed by the rival National Congress of the Reconstruction of East Timor, known as CNRT, a party led by former Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, also an ex-resistance leader who remains influential.
More than 835,000 of the country's 1.3 million people were registered to vote. The winner will take the oath of office May 20, the 20th anniversary of East Timor's independence from Indonesia, which had invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.
If none of the candidates secures more than 50% of the votes in the first round, a runoff between the two top vote-getters is scheduled for April 19.
Tensions between Fretilin and CNRT, the two largest parties, led to the resignation of Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak in February 2020 after the government repeatedly failed to pass a budget.
Ruak agreed to stay on until a new government is formed and to oversee the battle against the coronavirus pandemic with a $250 million war chest. His government has operated without an annual budget and has relied on monthly injections from its sovereign fund savings, called the Petroleum Fund.
Guterres refused to swear in nine people nominated by CNRT as Cabinet ministers in 2018. CNRT has accused Guterres and Fretilin of acting unconstitutionally and illegally seizing the post of speaker of parliament.
Fretilin said that Horta is unfit for president, accusing him of causing a crisis as prime minister in 2006, when dozens were killed as political rivalries turned into open conflict on the streets of Dili.
A clash between Fretilin and CNRT supporters also broke out in 2018, leaving more than a dozen injured and cars torched.
Ramos-Horta, speaking to media while casting his vote, said the benefits of his party's development plans would be spread more widely and vowed to work closely with Gusmao to implement them.
“We have voted based on our own wish for a new president who is able to maintain stability, to develop our economy and to change the current situation,” Ramos-Horta said.
East Timor's transition to a democracy has been rocky, with leaders battling massive poverty, unemployment and corruption. The nation continues to recover from the bloody break for independence two decades ago, with an economy reliant on dwindling offshore oil revenues and bitter factional politics.