EAST TIMOR: Presidential candidates, Taur Matan Ruak and rival Francisco Guterres "Lu Olo", cast their votes at local polling stations in Dili after both entering the second round of the ballot

Record ID: 327753

  • Title: EAST TIMOR: Presidential candidates, Taur Matan Ruak and rival Francisco Guterres "Lu Olo", cast their votes at local polling stations in Dili after both entering the second round of the ballot
  • Date: 17th April 2012
  • Summary: FAROL, DILI, EAST TIMOR (APRIL 16, 2012) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FRANCISCO GUTERRES "LU OLO" (C) AND HIS WIFE ARRIVE AT FAROL POLLING STATION MEDIA LU OLO SHOWING BALLOT PAPER TO JOURNALISTS BEFORE VOTING PHOTOGRAPHERS LU OLO AND MEDIA SCRUM LU OLO SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Tetum) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FRANCISCO GUTERRES "LU OLO" SAYING: "I believe I will win and what I promise during the campaign period I will carry out after being elected, and I will be president for all the people of East Timor to ensure peace and prosperity, development and cooperation with other state agencies." LU OLO LEAVING METIAUT, DILI, EAST TIMOR (APRIL 16, 2012) (REUTERS) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TAUR MATAN RUAK AND HIS WIFE ARRIVE AT METIAUT POLLING STATION RUAK RECEIVING BALLOT PAPER AND WAVING TO JOURNALISTS, ENTERING VOTING ROOM RUAK PUTTING BALLOT IN BOX RUAK SURROUNDED BY MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Tetum) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TAUR MATAN RUAK SAYING: "I hope this election result will be better accepted by the people of East Timor, including both candidates, because it has become a choice of the people." RUAK LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 2nd May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Timor-Leste
  • Country: Timor-Leste
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA0U748LMRVNAV0O4PBP2GXJTY
  • Story Text: The two remaining East Timor presidential candidates cast their votes on Monday (April 16), as they battle for the top job in Asia's newest and poorest nation.
    Polling stations opened at 8.00 am local time (23.00 GMT) and in some areas people were seen queuing an hour before the ballot began.
    The candidates who made it into the second round of voting are former military commander Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, known as Taur Matan Ruak, and Francisco Guterres, a former National Parliament president known as "Lu Olo".
    In March, current president Jose Ramos-Horta, who won the 1996 Nobel peace prize after years of campaigning against Indonesian rule, conceded defeat in his bid to win a second term in office.
    Lu Olo and his wife arrived at Farol polling station on Monday morning surrounded by supporters and the media as he made his way to cast his vote.
    The candidate said he felt optimistic about winning the second round.
    "I believe I will win and what I promise during the campaign period I will carry out after being elected, and I will be president for all the people of East Timor to ensure peace and prosperity, development and cooperation with other state agencies," Lu Olo told journalists after voting.
    Rival candidate Ruak said he would accept whatever outcome, insisting the election should be about the people of East Timor.
    "I hope this election result will be better accepted by the people of East Timor, including both candidates, because it has become a choice of the people," Ruak told reporters at a polling station.
    Ruak waved his ballot paper to journalists before casting his vote in Metiaut.
    Many East Timorese people say they hope the result will help benefit the people of the impoverished country.
    The East Timor president plays little role in policy but is vital in projecting stability after a bloody struggle that led to independence in 2002 and scattered violence around parliamentary elections in 2007.
    East Timor was a long-neglected Portuguese colony on the eastern half of a remote island in the southwest Pacific when Indonesia invaded in 1975 and annexed it.
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