East Timorese vote in final step to nationhood

East Timorese vote in final step to nationhood

Bhimanto Suwastoyo, Agence France-Presse, Dili, East Timor

East Timorese went peacefully to the polls on Sunday to elect a president, taking the final step on their long and bloody road to nationhood after centuries of oppressive foreign rule.

Independence hero and overwhelming favorite Xanana Gusmao embraced his sole challenger Francisco Xavier do Amaral as the two voted together at Saint Paul's polling station in the sleep seafront capital early on Sunday.

"Voting has been peaceful and orderly," said Carlos Valenzuela, chief electoral officer, four hours after polling stations opened across the small impoverished territory at 7 a.m. (5 a.m. Jakarta time).

Full independence will be achieved at midnight on May 20, after more than four centuries as a neglected Portuguese colony, 24 years as a brutally-ruled Indonesian province and 31 months of United Nations stewardship.

The poll is the third UN-run election since August 1999 when East Timorese voted to separate from Indonesia. That vote sparked off an orgy of death and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias who were backed by senior elements of the Indonesian military.

Last August the territory voted for a parliament, with veteran pro-independence party Fretilin winning 57 percent of the vote. Turnout in the previous votes was over 90 percent and UN officials were predicting another high turnout from the electorate of 439,000.

But in Dili the long queues that marked the earlier ballots were absent as of early afternoon.

Valenzuela said all 933 polling stations across East Timor, including 188 in Dili, were functioning but queues were reported only in district towns.

"In fact, even though there are no lines, there has been a steady presence of voters in the polling stations... by 10 o'clock all the polling stations had processed at least one third of their estimated population," he said of Dili.

As the sun rose many people in this mainly Catholic territory headed first to Sunday Mass rather than the voting stations. Nobel peace laureate Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo, the Bishop of Dili, led a packed service at his seafront residence.

John Waubosa, 28, was the first to vote at the polling station where both presidential candidates later cast their ballots.

"I have been waiting for this day with impatience... I feel it is important for me because it will affect my future and also that of my country," Waubosa said.

Gusmao, a 55-year-old charismatic former anti-Indonesia guerrilla commander, has been widely tipped to sweep the polls in this territory of 738,000 people.

Amaral, meanwhile, has intimated he is standing to ensure there is a democratic contest and appears not to expect to win.

Amaral proclaimed and presided over the Democratic Republic of East Timor in 1975 after the Portuguese withdrew. His presidency lasted just nine days before Indonesia, with tacit U.S. support, launched an invasion.