LYCOS RETRIEVER 
East Timor: President Gusmao
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East Timor held presidential elections in the spring of 2007. On April 9, voters chose from a slate of eight candidates. With a voter turnout of almost 82%, the top two finishers were the FRETILIN candidate Francisco “Lu-olo” Guterrres, who received 28% of the vote, and Jose Ramos-Horta, who stepped down as Prime Minister to run as an independent candidate with the endorsement of former President Xanana Gusmao. Ramos-Horta received 22% of the vote. Because the electoral law requires that a candidate win a majority, a second round was held on May 9. Ramos-Horta, who received the backing of all but one of the parties fielding candidates in the first round, won by a landslide, receiving 69% of the vote.
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February 22, 2008 at 10:37 am Filed under NewsLog The President of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, has woken from the induced coma he was put in following an assassination attempt. via Men's News Daily
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The Carter Center reopened a field office in East Timor in May 2001 for the long-term observation of the Aug. 30, 2001, Constituent Assembly elections and the subsequent constitution drafting process. Carter Center long-term observers were deployed again to East Timor in March 2002 to monitor the pre-electoral environment in the lead-up to the territory's first presidential elections scheduled to take place April 14, 2002. Short-term advisers ... have arrived and been deployed, with a delegation of 15 observers who will cover 11 districts on election day. Center observers have visited 12 of the 13 districts in East Timor, meeting with representatives of political parties, East Timorese nongovernmental groups, domestic monitoring groups, and community members in the 12 districts. The following is a summary report of observer findings.
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Some bloggers may provide the key to understanding the situation in East Timor better than media reports that are more readily available. A blogger on xananarepublic.blogspot.com cites Radio Timor-Leste reporting that Major Alfredo was in fact staying as a guest in the President's home. Ramos-Horta is known in Dili to house guests on a regular basis. This, if true, would prove not only ironic but incongruous with most portrayals of the 'renegade Major'. If proved untrue, it still shows that the Major was perceived, not as a man on the margins of the Timorese political scene but as an essential part of it. This is a perception that does not always transpire in the international media.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center are closely monitoring the popular consultation process on autonomy in East Timor. Ten Carter Center observers have been traveling throughout East Timor since July 4 to assess preparations for the vote, the security environment, and the fairness of the campaign, while remaining strictly neutral and nonpartisan. The following is the sixth in a series of weekly reports to be issued by The Carter Center observer mission before and after the consultation.
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A senior East Timorese rebel soldier accused of being involved in attacks on the tiny country's president and prime minister last month surrendered on Sunday, a military official said. via The Age
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