DILI (Pacnews) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta has pledged to do his best to serve the people after winning East Timor’s presidential elections in a landslide.
The tiny nation’s prime minister crushed his opponent, ex-guerrilla fighter Francisco Guterres “Lu Olo” of the majority Fretilin party, securing 73 percent of the vote with 90 percent counted.
“I owe the people, I owe them everything. “What I owe them is consistency, loyalty in working with everybody to uphold justice, to enhance democracy, to work for the poor of this country, to heal the wounds,” he told reporters.
“(But) I don’t celebrate because it’s going to be five years of hard work — it’s no cause for celebration.”
Analysts said the result showed the ruling Fretilin party was in dire trouble ahead of the more important parliamentary elections in June, and would likely have difficulty holding onto government without forming a coalition.
Fretilin appears to have not picked up any extra votes in the second round election, while Ramos Horta had gained the votes of all the losing candidates from the first round poll.
“They are in a bit of trouble — they must be wondering if they can hope to win the parliamentary elections,” said Sophia Cason, of the International Crisis Group.
Ramos Horta said the current president, the charismatic ex-fighter Xanana Gusmao, of the CNRT Party, was a “very, very high” chance of becoming the country’s prime minister in the upcoming poll.
Ramos Horta swept 10 of the country’s 13 districts, gaining up to 15 times as many votes as his rival in some areas. He described the overwhelming result as a “wake up call” for the major party Fretilin, the historic party of independence in East Timor.
But he wasn’t concerned about the risk of violence by Fretilin supporters.
“I’m not concerned about that — Fretilin is a well organized party, disciplined and they will be able to educate their more recalcitrant members...to accept because we have the legislative elections coming. If anyone misbehaves now, if Fretilin misbehaves now, they will be punished in the legislative elections.”