E. Timor Vote Closer Than Expected
An independence party has captured the majority of seats in East Timor’s fledgling legislature, but with a slimmer margin than party leaders had anticipated, electoral officials announced today.
The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor--widely known as Fretilin--secured 55 of the 88 seats in the assembly, said Carlos Valenzuela, the U.N. chief electoral officer.
The assembly will write East Timor’s first constitution and steer the territory to full independence next year before forming the first legislature.
The vote count leaves Fretilin short of the 60 seats it needed to pass its draft constitution without support from other parties. However, the tally also leaves it with a clear mandate to form the new government.
Trailing Fretilin was the Democratic Party, with 8.72% of the vote and seven seats in the legislature. Coming in third was the Social Democratic Party, with 8.18% and six seats.
The United Nations plans to gradually turn over administration of the government to the new authorities over the next six to eight months.
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