EAST TIMOR: Fretilin party leader Francisco Guterres wraps up his campaign for presidency with a rally in East Timor's capital Dili

Record ID: 346518

  • Title: EAST TIMOR: Fretilin party leader Francisco Guterres wraps up his campaign for presidency with a rally in East Timor's capital Dili
  • Date: 15th March 2012
  • Summary: DISTRICT, EAST TIMOR (MARCH 14, 20122) (REUTERS) FRETILIN PARTY SUPPORTERS MARCHING TO RALLY, HOLDING POSTERS AND FLAGS FRETILIN PARTY LEADER FRANCISCO GUTERRES, POPULARLY KNOWN AS LU-OLO, ARRIVING AT RALLY VARIOUS OF GUTERRES WITH SUPPORTERS VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS, SOME SITTING ON TREE (SOUNDBITE) (Tetun) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND FORMER PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT, FRANCISCO GUTERRES, SAYING: "If I'm elected as the president, I will not divide the people of Timor Leste into two ethnic areas of western and eastern." GUTERRES AT RALLY SUPPORTERS ON TREE GUTERRES SPEAKING VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS SINGING AT RALLY
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Timor-Leste
  • Country: Timor-Leste
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8D3ECTHO76U3NOP3RL3920QQB
  • Story Text: East Timor's presidential election race ended on Wednesday (March 14) with a large rally by the ruling Fretilin party on Wednesday (March 14) in the capital Dili.
    Francisco Guterres, popularly known as Lu-Olo, is the former President of National Parliament of East Timor from 2002 to 2007 and ran for president in 2007. He lost with 31% of vote against 69% for incumbent president Jose Ramos-Horta.
    In a rally attended by thousands of supporters, Guterres said he would unite the people of East Timor to build a better nation.
    "If I'm elected as the president, I will not divide the people of Timor Leste into two ethnic areas of western and eastern," Guterres said to his supporters.
    Wednesday was the last day of campaign before the March 17 election for the post of president, which is largely symbolic in a system in which the prime minister is the head of government.
    There are 12 candidates running for presidency, but it is likely to be won by former military commander Taur Matan Ruak, Guterres or Ramos-Horta.
    Ramos-Horta, who survived an assassination attempt in 2008, shared the Nobel prize in 1996 with Timorese Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo for working for a peaceful solution to a long conflict with Indonesia that finally ended with independence for the country in 2002.
    A separate election for prime minister is expected to take place around mid-year. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, a former guerilla leader, has not said whether he will run.
    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.
    The country voted in a 1999 referendum for independence from Indonesia, which annexed it after Portugal ended its colonial rule in 1975. The country became fully independent in 2002 after a period of U.N. administration.
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