UN accepts E. Timor election results
UN accepts E. Timor election results
DILI, East Timor (Agencies): The United Nations certified the results of East Timor's first democratic elections Monday, ahead of the inauguration of the country's new 88-member assembly.
The UN-run electoral commission pronounced the Aug. 30 ballot as free and fair at a ceremony attended by transitional administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Sixteen political parties participated in the vote for the council that will draw up East Timor's first constitution. The body will become the new parliament before independence is granted next year.
"Henceforward, East Timor will have an elected representative body working for the people to frame a constitution that is of the people," de Mello said. "This is a momentous achievement."
The assembly will be sworn in on Saturday in the newly renovated parliament building, which provides simultaneous translation facilities for East Timor's four languages -- Portuguese, Indonesian, Tetun and English.
Fretilin -- the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor -- won 57.3 percent of the overall vote, giving it 55 of the 88 seats in the assembly which will draft a constitution and become the parliament of the future nation.
Fretilin's win falls short of the two-thirds or 60-seat majority which will be needed to approve all the assembly's decisions, including the drafting of the constitution.
In second place is the Democratic Party (PD), founded by the student movement, with seven seats. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) of Mario Carrascalao, who governed the territory under Indonesian rule but went on to support independence, and the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT) won six seats each.
The Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Kota, the Timorese Nationalist Party (PNT) and the People's Party of Timor (PPT) won two seats each.
The Timor Socialist Party (PST), the Liberal Party (PL) and the Christian Democratic Party of Timor (UDC-PDC) were each allocated one seat.
One seat went to an independent candidate from Oecussi district.
The assembly will have three months to draft and adopt the constitution and decide on the country's political system.
De Mello also will swear in an East Timorese council of ministers Saturday. The body replaces an earlier transitional council consisting of UN officials and East Timorese representatives hand-picked by the UN administration.
The party's secretary general, Mari Alkatiri, is tipped to become chief minister.
Although they didn't stand as candidates in the election, independence leader Xanana Gusmao and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta also are expected to participate in the new government.