East Timor Election, FRETILIN Takes Early Lead

FRETILIN leading in vote with 29.1% of the vote, followed by Xanana Gusmao's party, the National Congress of East Timor's Reconstruction (CNRT) with 22.5%, the Association of Timorese Democrats-Social Democrat Party (ASDT-PSD) coalition with 16.2%, and the Democratic Party (PD) with 11.6%.

On Saturday (30/06), voters chose between 14 parties competing for control of the 65-seat legislature. Its the first general election to vote parliament members of this country.

The latest news from the Timorese electoral commission (with around 75% of the vote counted) show FRETILIN leading with 29.1% of the vote, followed by Xanana Gusmao's National Congress of East Timor's Reconstruction (CNRT) on 22.5%, the Association of Timorese Democrats-Social Democrat Party (ASDT-PSD) coalition on 16.2%, and the Democratic Party (PD) on 11.6%.

Those numbers are only going to get worse for FRETILIN - their heartland has mostly been counted, while Dili, solid CNRT territory, is less than 50% complete. As for the eventual government, the three large non-FRETILIN parties had agreed before the election to form a united front, so unless there is a dramatic change in the direction of the count, they seem certain to form a coalition government with Gusmao as Prime Minister.

No party was expected to win enough votes to lead the government alone, and coalition negotiations were likely.

"I don't care who wins or loses in this election," said Santino Dare Matias, 62, after attending Sunday mass in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic state. "Most important for common people like me is peace and security, so we can live our lives without intimidation," as writen by cnn.com.