EAST TIMOR: HORTA LEADS BUT RUN-OFF LIKELY

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Dili, 10 April (AKI) - East Timor's current prime minister and Noble Peace Prize winner, Jose Ramos-Horta, is leading the country's first post-independence presidential race. But the final result is far from certain and a run-off looks likely. Election Commission spokesperson, Martinho Gusmao said that with 20 percent of the votes counted - most of which were in the capital, Dili - Horta is closely followed by several other contenders.

"At the top is Ramos-Horta and Lu-Olo and then Lasadma," he told reporters in Dili, on Tuesday.

Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo" and Fernando "Lasadma'' de Araujo are two former guerrilla fighters. The first represents the Fretilin party, while the latter is a candidate for the Democratic Party.

"The counting process is ongoing in the whole territory, and it is too early for the media to report and for the Election Commission to announce a winner," he added, slamming Dili’s two main newspapers that had announced a clear Horta victory.

"I do not know where these two newspapers get their information. But the official tally is quite different. What they said is premature, inaccurate and unreliable," Martinho said.

A Preliminary final result is expected to be announced on Wednesday. The official result would follow on April 19. If no candidate wins an outright majority, a run-off will take place, probably in May.

Most analysts worry that the uncertainty could increase the tension in a country polarized along political and ethnic lines and where violence has been a constant for the past year.

In this regard, President Xanana Gusmao reiterated a call for calm. “Everyone should accept the result of the elections and there should not be any violence or vandalism,” he told reports in Dili, on Tuesday.

Looking ahead, housewife Manuela Anita Ximenes told Adnkronos International (AKI) that it is important that whoever wins the election will fulfill his promises.

“These (the promises) are mostly for national unity and jobs. If there are jobs, I believe that in Dili there would be peace,” she told AKI. “This is what we are crying out for,” she added.

More than 2,000 observers monitored the election that took place without any major trouble. The turnout could be as high as 95 percent.

East Timor, once the pride of the United Nation’s nation-building, descended into chaos last year after then-Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri fired a third of the tiny army, provoking gun battles between rival security forces that spiraled into gang warfare and looting. At least 37 people were killed, and some 155,000 fled their homes before the government collapsed.

The country had declared its independence on May 2002, after 24 years of Indonesian occupation and two and half years of UN administration.