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Ruling party has slight advantage in Timorese poll

"I'm still afraid. People say there will be no more harm done to us, but that is just on their lips, what is in their hearts, we don't know."

-- Antonio da Costa, a man living in a refugee camp in Dili

East Timor's ruling Fretilin party had a slight edge in early vote-counting yesterday in parliamentary elections hailed by the EU as a sign the nation is on the road to recovery after a year of violence.

Saturday's polls were the third elections this year in the impoverished country, which broke free from Indonesian rule in 1999 but descended into bloody turmoil and political chaos a year ago following a military mutiny.

With just under 20 percent of the ballots counted as of yesterday morning, it seemed the vote was close between the two dominant political foes - independence hero Xanana Gusmao and ousted Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri - hoping to control the 65-seat parliament and pick the next prime minister.

33 PERCENT

Alkatiri's Fretilin had 33 percent of the votes counted so far, almost 10,000 more than the 23 percent for Gusmao's National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, the Nation Election Commission said.

However, just 100,000 out of more than 500,000 ballots had been tallied.

Complete results are not expected until later this week, but officials say that by today enough votes will have been tallied to state whether - as is widely predicted - none of the 14 competing parties has won enough to control the house.

That outcome would mean coalition negotiations are needed to form a new government.

The biggest foreign observer mission, the EU, hailed the poll as generally free and fair.

"Timorese people have chosen for the first time their parliament members from a plural range of party options," delegation chief Ana Gomes said. "This represents a great step forward in the consolidation of a democratic culture and toward a peaceful end of the deep crisis in which the country was plunged in recent times."

INDEPENDENCE

East Timor, a Portuguese colony for 450 years, fought a 24-year struggle against Indonesia and formally became an independent state just five years ago amid a widespread campaign of murder and rape by pro-Indonesian militias that left 1,500 dead.

In April and May last year, the country of 1 million people descended into chaos when fighting between police and army forces led to gang warfare, looting and arson, killing 37 people and driving 155,000 from their homes.

About 3,000 foreign peacekeepers helped to restore relative calm, but the nation is still plagued by endemic unemployment and poverty, with about 10 percent of the population living in refugee camps or with relatives, too afraid to return home.

"No matter who wins, I hope the new government will bring us peace and help us return home," said Antonio da Costa, who is living in refugee camp in the capital, Dili with his seven children.

"I'm still afraid," he said. "People say there will be no more harm done to us, but that is just on their lips, what is in their hearts, we don't know."
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