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East Timor electing new president

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao holds his son as he shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Dili, East Timor, yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

Voters in East Timor crowded into polling booths yesterday to choose a new president, a critical step toward maintaining peace in Asia's newest nation following violence and political turmoil last year that took it to the brink of civil war.

As many as 524,000 East Timorese are eligible to vote in the polls, which pit Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta against Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, an ex-guerrilla turned politician who spent years in the jungle fighting Indonesian rule.

"I will become the Timorese president to serve the people, resolve the crisis and establish peace and democracy," said Guterres, who is seen by most analysts as the underdog in what may turn out to be a tight race.

"I want to win with dignity, but if I lose, I will also accept that with dignity," he said after voting.

The winner will have to heal deep divisions in the desperately poor nation, where many people are disillusioned eight years after voting for independence from decades of brutal Indonesian occupation in a violence-plagued referendum.

Yesterday's vote follows balloting last month that ended without an outright winner.

Campaigning has been peaceful for the second round, but some fear fresh unrest when the results are announced, expected by late tomorrow.

Ramos-Horta, 57, cast his ballot in a town east of Dili after lining up with fellow voters. He said afterward he was "totally relaxed."

"If I win the election, I win a ... huge responsibility," he said. "But if I lose, I win my freedom to do whatever I want, to be a writer, to be an academic, to be a tourist, to travel."

By early morning all 504 polling stations around the country were open and there were no reports of trouble, the local election authority said.

Officials had to deliver some ballots on horseback because the locations were so remote, it said.
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