Timor - Elections 2018
Timor-Leste is a multiparty, parliamentary republic. Human rights issues included corruption and violence against women. The government took some steps to prosecute members and officials of the security services who used excessive force, but public perceptions of impunity persisted.
After parliamentary elections in May, which were free, fair, and peaceful, Taur Matan Ruak became prime minister, leading a three-party coalition government. The 2017 March presidential and July parliamentary elections were also free and fair. When the minority government failed to pass a state budget, President Francisco Guterres Lu Olo dissolved parliament and called early elections, which took place in May. In contrast with previous years, these elections were conducted without extensive assistance from the international community.
The minority government led by Mr. Mari Alkatiri (FRETILIN) - the country's first prime minister after independence from Indonesia in 2002 - was unable to pass key legislation including the country's budget in the Parliament controlled by the CNRT-led opposition. After the budget was rejected twice by Parliament in October and December 2017, the President dissolved Parliament in January 2018 and called for fresh elections for May, less than 10 months after the previous elections.
The Alliance of Change for Progress (AMP), led by former President and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, won a majority in the 65-member Parliament. The AMP comprises Mr. Gusmao's National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), the People's Liberation Party (PLP) and the Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan (KHUNTO), a youth party established before the 2017 elections. It defeated the Revolutionary Front for an independent East Timor (FRETILIN) led by President Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres, which had led a minority government with the Democratic Party (PD) after the 2017 elections. During the 2018 election campaign, the major parties promised to develop education and healthcare and to boost the agriculture and tourism sectors.
The people of Timor-Leste went to the polls on 12 May 2018, less than 10 months after the July 2017 five-year election. Campaigning commenced after Easter in the mainly Catholic nation with its ageing political lions ready for one more fight. The contest may be the last between the nation's first generation of now ageing leaders. The contest is certain to be the most bitter the 15-year-old nation had seen. The election pits former revolutionary force Fretilin, led by the country's inaugural Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, who was forced to step down in 2006 after being elected in 2002. He was against former president and prime minister Xanana Gusmao, the country's talisman and his CNRT (National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction) party that formed a coalition with a raft of other parties.
East Timorese voted 12 May 2018 in their second election for parliament in less than a year after the collapse of a minority government. A three-party alliance led by independence hero Xanana Gusmao's National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction party was vying against Fretilin, which headed the short-lived government formed following the 2017 election. Gusmao is an iconic figure to many Timorese and returned to Dili to a hero's welcome in March, after successfully negotiating an agreement with Australia on a maritime boundary in the Timor Sea. The deal should in time see East Timor earn billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues from the Greater Sunrise field there.
The main AMP party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction, was in power from 2007-17. The AMP's combined strength made it the more likely winner, but Alkatiri said Fretilin hoped to win more than 30 seats. Some 784,000 people had registered to vote across 13 municipalities and voters turned out early to cast their ballot.
The factions have fundamentally differing styles of leadership. The Alkatiri model is domineering, rigid and inflexible. Gusmao's was flexible and one in which many people were brought into a big tent. It was designed to compromise and rule, rather than dictate and rule. This came from different historical experiences during the liberation struggle. Gusmao's clique managed a system of governing in the jungle based on internal compromise and negotiation. Meanwhile, the Alkatiri clique of exiles took ideological stands that were rigid in their stance.
Around two-thirds of Timorese are under 30 years of age, meaning that there is a widening generation gap between the country's leadership and the majority of the population. Gusmao, Alkatiri and most of the country's political elite are veterans of the independence struggle.
The opposition coalition led by former prime minister Xanana Gusmao won the parliamentary election. The election commission said that with most of the votes counted, the Alliance of Change for Progress won 34 of the 65 seats in the legislature. The ruling Fretilin party won 23. The new government was tasked with nurturing new industries and providing better education.
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