I am following the Timor-Leste Presidential elections in two stages, with current President Ramos-Horta,Lu’Olo Fretilin and Taur Matan Ruak the main contenders out of 14. Although some Australians say the President is just a figure- head, the East Timorese political practice means the President is politically powerful.
Reports below 1. From ETAN a report by Agence France-Presse and then 2. a summary of the candidates from SEARCH; 3. references.
1. East Timor’s Ramos-Horta loses key election support
President Jose Ramos-Horta’s bid for reelection in East Timor suffered a blow Thursday when a key political party said it would back his opponent.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao’s CNRT party, which championed Ramos-Horta’s win in 2007, has shifted its support to the former military head Taur Matan Ruak for the March 17 election in one of the world’s newest nations.
The poll marks the tiny half-island nation’s second free presidential election as it celebrates 10 years of independence. The last elections were marred by violence.
“From now onwards, the official political support from CNRT party is to Mr Taur Matan Ruak. This is what we all here have decided,” CNRT General Secretary Dionisio Babo Soares told AFP.
The CNRT declined to say why it was no longer supporting Ramos-Horta. But the president has repeatedly accused the party of corruption and nepotism, straining his relationship with the prime minister.
Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in a statement that he commended Ruak and his supporters ahead of the election.
“I praise the good citizenship shown by the supporters of the aforementioned candidate, in a campaign revealing democratic maturity, which needs to be encouraged,” he said.
“I would like to thank Major-General Taur Matan Ruak for the loyalty he, while still commander-in-chief of (the armed forces), always had to the president of the republic and commander-in-chief during the five-year mandate.”
Ramos-Horta has just returned from speaking at the United Nations Security Council in New York where he hailed changes in the country since deadly unrest in 2006 forced him to appeal for a UN peacekeeping force to be sent.
Peacekeepers plan to withdraw by the year-end providing the March poll and legislative elections in June run smoothly.
Ruak resigned last year from the military to contest the presidency and is considered one of four frontrunners in the race of 13 candidates.
Like Ramos-Horta, Ruak is a popular veteran of East Timor’s resistance struggle against Indonesia’s brutal 24-year occupation that took around 200,000 Timorese lives.
Ramos-Horta is still likely to garner a fair share of the votes, analysts say, but stands to lose throngs of loyal CNRT supporters.
“For the most part, voters tend to be fairly party loyal. If CNRT says vote for this candidate, their followers will generally do so,” Damien Kingsbury from Melbourne-based Deakin University said.
While no political polling exists in East Timor, analysts say CNRT’s coalition government has significant support after improving stability and economic growth, rolling out electrification and eradicating starvation during its five-year term.
Ramos-Horta announced his candidacy in late January, promising peace as the nation recovers from rioting and factional fighting that left the country on the brink of civil war in 2006.
Violence also broke out ahead of the 2007 elections and assassination attempts were made on Ramos-Horta and Gusmao in 2008.
Malnutrition and a dependence on depleting oil reserves to fuel the economy still plague the nation of around 1.1 million, which is one of the poorest in the world.
2.SEARCH News February 2012 volume 19, Number 1
Timor-Leste presidential race is on
The first round of the Timor-Leste presidential elections will be held on Saturday March 17, 2012, with the run-off vote set for March 14. There are 14 candidates, represent many of the parties now represented in the parliament and some that are not.
The Presidency is not an executive role in the Timor-Leste Constitution, and the next government will be determined in parliamentary elections expected in late June. But the presidential voting will indicate the current alignment of political groups for the June election.
The strongest candidates are the incumbent, Jose Ramos Horta, Dr Lu Olo from FRETILIN, Taur Matan Ruak, until recently the army commander, and Francisco Xavier do Amaral, the first president of FRETILIN and now leading the Social Democratic Association of Timor-Leste (ASDT).
Dr Lu Olo won by a substantial number of votes the first round of the 2007 presidential election, with current President Jose Ramos Horta coming a clear second, but was defeated in the run-off election, when Mr Horta was able to secure the support of the other candidates.
Taur Matan Ruak resigned as army commander late in 2011 to enable him to run for the presidency. He was second in command of FALANTIL to Lu Olo in 1999, when the August 30 referendum finally forced the withdrawal of the Indonesian occupation.
On January 31, 2012, when he lodged his nomination, Dr Lu Olo told journalists: “I feel confident that the people of Timor-Leste will determine the next head of state in good conscience and freely. I have shown once already in 2007 that I know how to accept their verdict gracefully. I look forward to a positive and constructive campaign from everyone, and have called on all candidates to ensure that we campaign and win or lose in a way that contributes to strengthening peace, stability and national unity. What our people want most of all and fully deserve is peace and stability. It is up to each and everyone of us as head of state candidates to provide this in any way we can at every opportunity, including during this campaign,” Lu Olo stressed.
After the 1999 UN sponsored referendum that resulted in Indonesia’s withdrawal, Lu Olo left his armed resistance days behind him and concentrated on building his party FRETILIN, which he had led since 1997. He was elected its President in 2001, that same year leading FRETILIN to victory in the constituent assembly elections. He has been re-elected to FRETILIN’s top job on two occasions since, in May 2006 and in August 2011, the latter by way of Timor-Leste’s first direct election by party members of its leadership. Over 165,000 FRETILIN members voted in the internal national party elections held on August 20, 2011.
This is the order in which the candidates lodged their nominations with the National Electoral Commission (CNE), the number of supporting signatures, and their party group:
1. Taur Matan Ruak with 10,000 signatures – independent.
2. Francisco Gomes with 5,177 signatures – Aileba People’s Liberty Party (PLPA) – a split from ASDT.
3. Anjela Freitas da Silva with 7,500 signatures – Timor Labour Party (PTT).
4. Angelita Maria Francisca Pires 5,100 signatures – CNRT (National Congress for Reconstruction of Timor).
5. Rogerio Tiago de Fatima Lobato with 7,215 signatures – independent.
6. Lucas da Costa with 6,890 signatures – ?.
7. Francisco Guteres Lu-Olo with 22,590 signatures – FRETILIN.
8. Abilio da Conceição Abrantes Araujo with 5,000 signatures – Timorese Nationalist Party (PNT) – broke from FRETILIN in 1987.
9. Jose Ramos Horta with 7,977 signatures – independent, current President.
10. Francisco Xavier do Amaral with 7,262 signatures – ASDT.
11. Fernando de Araujo Lasama with 8,314 signatures – Democratic Party.
12. Manuel Tilman with 14,170 signatures – KOTA (Association of Timor Heroes).
13. Maria do Ceu da Silva Lopes with 5,541 signatures – ?.
14. Jose Luis Guterres with 12,222 signatures – FRENTI-Mudanca (Front for National Reconstruction of Timor-Leste – Change)
The SEARCH Foundation is sponsoring an election observer mission for the presidential elections.
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