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Timor-Leste Presidential Election Results: José Ramos-Horta Wins by a Landslide

Timor-Leste Presidential Election Results: José Ramos-Horta Wins by a Landslide
A Fretilin campaign in Dili © wikimedia commons

According to preliminary results released Wednesday by the electoral office, Nobel winner Jose Ramos-Horta won the presidential election in East Timor by a landslide.
The 72-year-old received 397,145 votes, or 62.09 percent, against incumbent Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres' 242,440 votes, or 37.91 percent, according to the secretariat's website after all ballots were tallied on Wednesday.

The electoral commission in East Timor has yet to confirm the election results.
Ramos-Horta will be re-elected for a second term. From 2007 until 2012, he was the president of South-east Asia's youngest nation, as well as its first prime minister.
Ramos-Horta will take office on May 20, the 20th anniversary of Timor-independence Leste's from Indonesia, which controlled the former Portuguese territory for 24 years.

He promised to utilize his five-year mandate to overcome a long-standing stalemate between the two major political parties.

The election might usher in a time of uncertainty, since Ramos-Horta has said that if he won, he would dissolve parliament.
In the nation of 1.3 million inhabitants, about 860,000 individuals were entitled to vote, and more than 75% of voters came out to vote in the second round.

This week's vote was a rerun of the 2007 presidential election, which Ramos-Horta similarly easily won with 69 percent of the vote. Ramos-Horta said he stepped out of retirement to run again because he thought the departing president had broken the law.

Keterangan Gambar (© Pemilik Gambar)
Jose Ramos Horta (© flickr)

Ramos-Horta was dominating in the election's first round on March 19, garnering 46 percent of the vote against Guterres' 22 percent, but fell short of the required majority.

He had the support of Xanana Gusmao, the country's first president and current head of the National Congress of Timor-Leste Reconstruction (CNRT). Gusmao has often acted as a kingmaker in Timor-Leste.

Ramos-Horta received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his efforts to facilitate conflict settlement in Timor-Leste. In 2008, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

The next president confronts a difficult challenge in bringing the nation out of poverty. Timor-Leste is still struggling from the economic consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak, with the World Bank estimating that 42 percent of the population lives in poverty.

Akhyari Hananto

I began my career in the banking industry in 1997, and stayed approx 6 years in it. This industry boost his knowledge about the economic condition in Indonesia, both macro and micro, and how to More understand it. My banking career continued in Yogyakarta when I joined in a program funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB),as the coordinator for a program aimed to help improve the quality of learning and teaching process in private universities in Yogyakarta. When the earthquake stroke Yogyakarta, I chose to join an international NGO working in the area of ?disaster response and management, which allows me to help rebuild the city, as well as other disaster-stricken area in Indonesia. I went on to become the coordinator for emergency response in the Asia Pacific region. Then I was assigned for 1 year in Cambodia, as a country coordinator mostly to deliver developmental programs (water and sanitation, education, livelihood). In 2009, he continued his career as a protocol and HR officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Surabaya, and two years later I joined the Political and Economic Section until now, where i have to deal with extensive range of people and government officials, as well as private and government institution troughout eastern Indonesia. I am the founder and Editor-in-Chief in Good News From Indonesia (GNFI), a growing and influential social media movement, and was selected as one of The Most Influential Netizen 2011 by The Marketeers magazine. I also wrote a book on "Fundamentals of Disaster Management in 2007"?, "Good News From Indonesia : Beragam Prestasi Anak Bangsa di dunia"? which was luanched in August 2013, and "Indonesia Bersyukur"? which is launched in Sept 2013. In 2014, 3 books were released in which i was one of the writer; "Indonesia Pelangi Dunia"?, "Indonesia The Untold Stories"? and "Growing! Meretas Jalan Kejayaan" I give lectures to students in lectures nationwide, sharing on full range of issues, from economy, to diplomacy Less
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