EAST TIMOR: The East Timorese went peacefully to the polls yesterday in great numbers to elect a president - widely expected to be former independence leader Mr Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao.
Election officials said voter turnout was 86.3 per cent, according to preliminary figures. But there were some allegations of "dirty tricks" and signs of tension within the new government.
In October 1999 78.5 per cent voted for independence and yesterday's vote is the final step on East Timor's road to independence at midnight on May 20th, after more than four centuries as a neglected Portuguese colony, 24 years as a brutally-ruled Indonesian province and 31 months of UN stewardship.
Voters rose in the dark and in their Sunday best and again proudly exercised their franchise.
"Polling is over and once again the East Timorese people have shown great maturity in peacefully exercising their most fundamental democratic right," said Mr Carlos Valenzuela, chief electoral officer. The final result will not be announced until Wednesday.
The UN chief in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, hailed the election as "a truly historic moment".
The 379,116-vote turnout was only slightly lower than in the previous two UN-organised ballots since 1999 but election officials were upbeat on the numbers who cast their vote.
"A turnout of 86.3 per cent anywhere in the world would be considered an excellent turnout," said Mr Valenzuela.
The Chief Minister, Mr Mari Alkatiri, who is the head of Fretilin, the independence movement once militarily led by Mr Gusmao, does not approve of Mr Gusmao having stood as an independent.
Mr Alkatiri represents a feeling within the former rebel ranks that their leader has abandoned them. Mr Alkatiri said before yesterday's vote: "I will either cast a blank ballot or go for a walk on the beach."
On the day there appeared to be less tension between the two presidential candidates, Mr Gusmao and Mr Francisco Xavier do Amaral.
They posed for photographs and proudly displayed their blackened fingers which they had used to vote in the seafront capital, Dili.
They embraced after voting together at Saint Paul's polling station.
But EU election monitors warned that unidentified groups were trying to persuade voters to spoil their ballot papers on the eve of the vote.
The EU would be unable to endorse the results if such a campaign succeeded, said its chief election observer, Mr John Bowis.
Mr Gusmao and his campaign staff have reported attempts by supporters of Fretilin to persuade or intimidate people either to spoil their ballots or to vote for Mr Amaral.
Mr Jose Ramos-Horta, the transitional Foreign and Co-operation Minister, said his impression was that the incidents had been "very few and isolated, and in no way affect the credibility and integrity of the entire process".
The apparent aim is to reduce the size of Mr Gusmao's majority as president and thus his future influence.
While the presidency is a largely ceremonial post, there are areas of potential conflict within the future Fretilin-led executive government.
Mr Amaral (66) has not been accused of any involvement in the "dirty tricks" campaign. He proclaimed the Democratic Republic of East Timor in 1975 after the Portuguese withdrew.
In spite of special contingency plans allowing about 60,000 refugees returning from Indonesian West Timor to vote, no refugees were reported crossing the border.
In another brewing row, this time with Australia over oil, Mr Alkatiri has thrown into doubt a May 20th signing of a Timor Gap Treaty which divides royalties from oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea between the two nations.
He said at the weekend his government would not agree to some existing arrangements.
This comes in response to Australia's unilateral withdrawal last month from the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice over certain cases involving maritime boundaries.
Yesterday's vote was observed by 72 East Timorese and 35 international groups.