Ramos-Horta concedes defeat in poll
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
EAST Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who won the 1996 Nobel peace prize after years of campaigning against Indonesian rule, conceded defeat yesterday in his bid to win a second term and congratulated rivals set to face off in a second vote in April.
Francisco Guterres, from the main opposition Fretilin party, and Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, the former army chief and guerrilla leader, were the two front candidates in the first-round vote, electoral commission data show.
The president of Asia's newest and poorest country plays little role in policy but is vital in projecting stability after a bloody struggle that led to independence in 2002 and scattered violence around parliamentary elections in 2007.
After 84 percent of the vote had been counted, Guterres led narrowly with 128,266 votes or 28.45 percent, while de Vasconcelos had 113,553 votes or 25.16 percent. Ramos-Horta was in third with 80,291 votes or 17.81 percent.
"I congratulate the two candidates who continue into the second round," Ramos-Horta said at a news conference.
Life in the capital, Dili, got back to normal yesterday with shops and government offices reopening after a three-day break for the election. Results were due late yesterday or today.
Economics has been the dominant issue with voters as the former Portuguese colony, occupied by neighboring Indonesia in 1975, struggles to unlock its substantial offshore gas reserves.
The reserves are the object of a dispute with Australia's Woodside Petroleum, which heads a consortium of firms developing the Greater Sunrise project gas field.
Francisco Guterres, from the main opposition Fretilin party, and Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, the former army chief and guerrilla leader, were the two front candidates in the first-round vote, electoral commission data show.
The president of Asia's newest and poorest country plays little role in policy but is vital in projecting stability after a bloody struggle that led to independence in 2002 and scattered violence around parliamentary elections in 2007.
After 84 percent of the vote had been counted, Guterres led narrowly with 128,266 votes or 28.45 percent, while de Vasconcelos had 113,553 votes or 25.16 percent. Ramos-Horta was in third with 80,291 votes or 17.81 percent.
"I congratulate the two candidates who continue into the second round," Ramos-Horta said at a news conference.
Life in the capital, Dili, got back to normal yesterday with shops and government offices reopening after a three-day break for the election. Results were due late yesterday or today.
Economics has been the dominant issue with voters as the former Portuguese colony, occupied by neighboring Indonesia in 1975, struggles to unlock its substantial offshore gas reserves.
The reserves are the object of a dispute with Australia's Woodside Petroleum, which heads a consortium of firms developing the Greater Sunrise project gas field.
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