East Timor will vote with the hope of ending the political blockade

East Timor is preparing to vote this Saturday to elect its president in the hope of ending the political and economic paralysis that has been prevailing for years in this former Portuguese colony.

About 860,000 voters from that Southeast Asian country, of 1.3 million inhabitants, are called to the polls to appoint the head of state for the next five years.

The covid-19 pandemic dealt a serious blow to the country's economy, impoverished and mostly rural. Added to the consequences of the health crisis were the heavy floods caused by Cyclone Seroja, which hit the capital, Dili, in April 2021 and left some forty people dead.

Sixteen candidates will compete for the position, including four women. There have never been so many candidates since the country gained independence from Indonesia in 2002.

The current president, Francisco Guterres, nicknamed “Lu-Olo”, 67, who also leads the Freitilin party, is running for a second term.

In 2017, he was elected in the first round with 57% of the vote thanks to the support of the two main parties, the National Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT) and the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor (Fretilin).

But, on this occasion, he will face Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos-Horta, 72, who already presided over the country from 2007 to 2012.

The former Timorese resistance spokesman received key support from Xanana Gusmao, hero of independence and leading figure of the CNRT.

General Lere Anan Timur, also from the Fretilin formation, is considered a serious rival for the current president.

- Generation of independence -

If none of the candidates wins an absolute majority, a second round will be organized on April 19. The new head of state will be inaugurated on 20 May, the anniversary of the country's independence.

In East Timor, the president has a mostly honorary function. The country is located in the eastern half of the island of Timor, in the Indonesian archipelago, and covers an area of about 15,000 km2.

With this election, voters hope to end the blockade of the last four years, as a result of the confrontation of the two main political forces.

“The machinery must be restarted after a paralysis that has generated an economic crisis, because of not being able to vote on budgets,” explained Christine Cabasset, specialist in East Timor and deputy director of the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia.

These candidates forged their militancy in the struggle for independence and are the result of that time, but the importance of the young electorate in a country where 70% of the population is under the age of 30 could benefit other candidates.

Political life in East Timor has often been marred by violence.

In 2018, riots during the legislative elections left dozens injured and, in 2006, political rivalries degenerated into an open conflict in Dili, in which dozens of people died.

Leaders must try to straighten the economy, which was very disrupted by the fact that oil revenues - the main source of state budgets - fell sharply. In addition, the future of the Greater Sunrise archaeological site remains uncertain.

The former Portuguese colony annexed by Jakarta in 1975 gained its independence in 2002, after 24 years of bloody Indonesian occupation.

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