Ex-rebel leader tipped for landslide election victory
Election officials today began counting votes from East Timor’s first presidential election, as political leaders predicted a landslide victory for former resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.
Yesterday’s vote marked the final step in the former Indonesian territory’s quarter-century struggle for nationhood. International monitors called it a success, with voter turnout estimated at 86.3%.
Official results were not expected until Wednesday, but there was little suspense in East Timor, where the charismatic Gusmao, 55, is already considered the de facto leader by many of the territory’s 800,000 people. For years he led a guerrilla army against Indonesian forces that occupied East Timor after Portugal pulled out in 1975.
‘‘Xanana will be the clear winner with more than 80%,’’ said Mario Carrascalao, who heads the opposition Social Democratic Party.
Under East Timor’s new constitution, the president is given a largely symbolic role in a strong parliamentary government. Carrascalao said that he hoped Gusmao would serve as a political arbiter and guarantor of the new system.
‘‘Xanana will become a referee,’’ he said. ‘‘If people break the democratic process he will bring them back into line.’’
Gusmao’s campaign staff predicted he would win more than three-quarters of the vote.
His sole opponent, Francisco Xavier do Amaral, has made it clear he was running only to provide voters with a choice and to educate them in the democratic process.
On May 20, a transitional United Nations administration will formally hand over the running of the country to the new government, which has been functioning since parliamentary elections in August.
The world body has been overseeing the country since it voted overwhelmingly to break free from Indonesia in a UN referendum in August 1999.
After that plebiscite, the Indonesian military and pro-Jakarta militiamen killed hundreds of people and destroyed much of the territory in a systematic campaign of revenge. The violence stopped only when international peacekeepers arrived a month later.
Do Amaral served as president for nine days after Portuguese colonial rule collapsed in 1975. Indonesia invaded on December 7, 1975.
Sunday’s voting was peaceful, with only one minor electoral violation reported. More than 2,000 local and international observers monitored the 282 ballot centres across the territory.
