East Timor votes for president in run-off amid political feud

Jose Ramos-Horta, the front runner is up against incumbent president Francisco ‘Lu Olo’ Guterres in a vote seen as key to the nation’s political stability

Winner will take office for five years from May 20 – the day East Timor celebrates the 20th anniversary of its independence from Indonesia

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An election worker marks the finger of a voter with ink during the presidential runoff election at a polling station in Dili, East Timor on Tueday. The runoff election is between former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta, and incumbent president Francisco Guterres. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 2:30pm, 19 Apr 2022Updated: 3:05pm, 19 Apr 2022

People across East Timor went to the polls on Tuesday to choose either a Nobel laureate or a former guerilla fighter – the incumbent president – as their next leader.

Front runner Jose Ramos-Horta has pledged to break a long-standing deadlock between the two main political parties in Southeast Asia’s youngest country should he win the run-off election against President Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres.

“If I win … I will hold a dialogue with political parties, including [Guterres’] Fretilin, so they can work together to maintain stability and peace in Timor-Leste,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner told journalists on Tuesday, holding aloft a finger stained purple after casting his vote.

East Timor’s presidential candidate and former president Jose Ramos Horta shows his marked finger after casting his vote during the presidential run-off election at a polling station in Dili, East Timor on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Former guerilla leader Guterres, meanwhile, promised “to ensure national stability, and to adhere to the mission as president of the republic, which is inseparable from the constitution” at a polling station in the capital Dili.

Both candidates have pledged to respect the election results regardless of the outcome.

The poll is a rematch of a 2007 election won handily by Ramos-Horta, a former revolutionary hero.

The winner will take office for five years from May 20 – the day East Timor celebrates the 20th anniversary of its independence from Indonesia, which occupied the former Portuguese colony for 24 years.