East Timor votes for president in runoff election amid political feud

Voters in East Timor are choosing a president in a runoff between former independence fighters who’ve blamed each other for years of political paralysis.

“I call on people to accept whatever the results of this election wisely," incumbent President Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres told reporters while voting in Dili, the capital on Tuesday.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta had a commanding lead in the election's first round but failed to exceed 50 percent of the votes and avoid the runoff. 

Ramos-Horta received 46.6 percent, Guterres won 22.1 percent and 14 other candidates split the rest of the votes in the March 19 election.

Ramos-Horta, 72, and Guterres, 67, were resistance figures during Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor. 

More than 76 percent  of the votes last month went to resistance-era figures, showing how much they dominate politics after two decades despite younger voices emerging.

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Political paralysis

Ramos-Horta, East Timor’s president from 2007 to 2012, and Guterres, have blamed each other for years of political paralysis.

In 2018, Guterres refused to swear in nine Cabinet nominees from the National Congress of the Reconstruction of East Timor, known as CNRT.

The party, led by former prime minister and independence leader Xanana Gusmao, backed Ramos-Horta’s run for president.

Guterres is from the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, known by its local acronym Fretilin, which had led resistance to Indonesian rule.

Fretilin says Ramos-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.

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