East Timorese vote for new parliament in key elections
DILI (AP): An East Timorese independence hero was facing off against a former prime minister for leadership in this fledgling democracy as important parliamentary elections got under way Saturday.
Xanana Gusmao, revered for his role in East Timor's struggle for freedom from Indonesia, is making a bid to strip power from the Fretilin party that has dominated politics since a UN-led vote for independence in 1999.
Twelve other parties are running, but the fiercest battle is between Xanana's CNRT and the left-leaning Fretilin of rival Mari Alkatiri, once an ally in the Indonesian resistance.
The nation of less than a million people descended into chaos in April and May of 2006 when fighting between police and army forces killed 37 people and drove 155,000 from their homes. About 10 percent of the population remains in dirty camps.
Several candidates were confident of victory, but analysts do not expect an outright majority for any party, meaning a coalition government will have to be negotiated in the former Portuguese colony.
"We will win an absolute majority, more than 50 percent," said Fretilin's Alkatiri, casting his vote. "We have experience in governing the country. We have plans, programs and the competenceto do this. They have no capacity."
Xanana, who founded the CNRT in March to realize ambitions of holding the top government job of premier, spent years in an Indonesian prison before returning to East Timor to become the first president in 2002.
He smiled and flashed a victory sign at reporters waiting at one of 700 polling booths.
Voter Cirilo Vaz de Carvalho, a 57-year-old farmer with three children, was the first resident to vote at a local elementary school in the capital, Dili.
"I voted for CNRT because of the key figure, our national hero, Xanana Gusmao, who brought us independence. I want him to once again liberate us from the problems that divided East Timor in last year's crisis."
East Timor, Asia's newest and poorest country, faces chronic poverty, unemployment of around 50 percent and food shortages. Around 100,000 people are too frightened to return home because gangs regularly fight in the streets. (**)
