First results indicate tight race in E. Timor

First results indicate tight race in E. Timor

DILI, East Timor (Agencies): The party that led East Timor to independence will capture the largest slice of seats in the fledgling nation's legislature, but with a slimmer majority than party leaders had anticipated, according to initial results released on Monday.

The announcement came as a surprise for many election observers who had predicted a landslide victory for the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor - Fretelin.

The UN's chief electoral officer Carlos Valenuela said Fretelin had taken the lead after votes from three of East Timor's 13 districts had been counted.

From the districts of Aileu, Covlima and Lautem, Fretelin won the majority of votes at a local level, giving it three seats in the constitutional assembly. At the national level, Fretelin won most of votes in Covlima, but in Aileu was beaten by the Association of Social Democrats of Timor, or ASDT party. Votes on the national level from Lautem were yet to be tallied.

Fretelin party leader Mari Alkariri said last week that his party expected to control 85 percent of the seats in the 88- member assembly.

It remained unclear whether Fretelin would win a comfortable majority and obtain a clear mandate to form the new government when counting is completed and official results are announced next week.

"I think Fretelin will do well and probably get over half the vote," said Johanna Kao, the director of the U.S. International Republican Institute in East Timor. "But I don't think they will get the full 85 percent because the smaller parties have been working hard to get their message out."

Thursday's election for the assembly that will draft East Timor's constitution was seen as a crucial step in the process of preparing the half-island territory for independence next year.

The assembly is likely to adopt a presidential system of government, with elections for the new head of state expected by next April.

Xanana Gusmao, a charismatic former separatist guerrilla leader, is likely to become the first president.

The assembly itself will be transformed into the country's first parliament.

Meanwhile, East Timor will remain under the UN transitional administration that has been running the province since it voted to break free of Indonesia exactly two years ago after more than two decades of military occupation.

The world body expects to gradually turn the running of the country to the new authorities over the next 6 to 8 months.

On Sunday, the leader of a long-established party, the Timorese Democratic Union said the result would be invalid because electoral officials had allowed people who were not registered to vote to cast their ballots.

Joao Carrascalao also complained about other irregularities during the ballot but did not elaborate.

A total of 409,000 East Timorese were registered for the poll, but the United Nations said about 425,000 were eligible to vote. The world body and international observers have described the Aug. 30 vote as free and fair.

Two watchdog groups said on Monday that the winners of last week's historic election in East Timor must listen to the people when drafting a constitution as a prelude to independence.

"It is imperative that the constituent assembly provides further opportunity to connect people with the decision-making process rather than attempting to encompass the aspirations of their diverse electorate," said a report on the poll from the Yayasan HAK, a rights and democracy organization.

Some 91 percent of voters took part on Thursday in the territory's first free election, for an 88-member constituent assembly. It will draft a constitution and become the national parliament by early December in preparation for independence by mid-2002.