When East Timor picks a new president tomorrow, voters hope to end a year of violence and instability that threatened to plunge one of the world's youngest and poorest nations into civil war.
The closely watched election -- which comes amid bitter political rivalries -- is a test of the fledgling state's democracy and its ability to survive on its own five years after breaking from decades of brutal Indonesian rule.
More than 522,000 people are eligible to vote in the election, in which eight candidates are vying to replace President Xanana Gusmao for a five-year term.
PHOTO: AP
Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, a popular Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had initially been considered a sure winner for the largely ceremonial role, but most experts now say a runoff is almost certain.
If that happens, a second round would follow a month later.
Ramos-Horta is believed to have lost supporters for approving an Australian military operation to capture fugitive military police commander Alfredo Reinado. He is also faulted for failing to imprison former interior minister Rogerio Lobato -- a fierce political opponent -- on gunrunning and murder charges.
"Ramos-Horta appears to have alienated his support base and it has been reflected in the fairly poor turnout at his rallies," said election observer Damien Kingsbury, an associate professor at the School of International and Political Studies in Victoria, Australia.
The presidential vote will gauge public support for a plan by Ramos-Horta and longtime ally Gusmao to oust the powerful left-wing Fretilin party from power. Gusmao plans to run for prime minister in crucial general elections in June in which his new party will try to seize Fretilin's majority in parliament.
East Timor descended into chaos last April after 600 soldiers were fired, triggering gunbattles between opposing police and army factions.
Dozens of people have been injured in sporadic clashes during two weeks of campaigning, causing some 2,800 foreign troops and police officers and 3,500 election officials to brace for possible violence during the voting.
Tensions are expected to be especially high when results are announced on Wednesday.
Kingsbury said all sides have violated the rules, but the vote can still be "within the parameters of free and fair."
Ramos-Horta's two main rivals are Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres of Fretilin and Democratic Party leader Fernando "Lasama" de Araujo.
Voters are not expected to pick candidates over policy differences, but rather to select a person believed to have the greatest chance of restoring peace.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
INSTABILITY: If Hezbollah do not respond to Israel’s killing of their leader then it must be assumed that they simply can not, an Middle Eastern analyst said Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah leaves the group under huge pressure to deliver a resounding response to silence suspicions that the once seemingly invincible movement is a spent force, analysts said. Widely seen as the most powerful man in Lebanon before his death on Friday, Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah and Israel’s arch-nemesis for more than 30 years. His group had gained an aura of invincibility for its part in forcing Israel to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, waging a devastating 33-day-long war in 2006 against Israel and opening a “support front” in solidarity with Gaza since
RSS