Sydney (dpa) – East Timorese cast votes Saturday in a presidential election that will indicate whether the Fretilin party has the power to take back government in parliamentary elections later in June. Incumbent Jose Ramos-Horta has been overshadowed in campaigning for the largely ceremonial role by Fretilin candidate Francisco Guterres and former armed forces commander Taur Matan Ruak, the candidate favoured by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and his CNRT party. Ramos-Horta is bidding for a second five-year term. He won with Gusmao's backing in 2007, the same year Gusmao switched from president to prime minister. Analysts do not expect any of the candidates to gain more than half of the votes cast and so score a decisive victory in the first round of voting. The contest is more likely to be decided next month in a second round of voting that would likely pit Fretilin supporters against those of the ruling CNRT coalition. More than 600,000 of the tiny nation's 1.1 million people are registered to vote. Fretilin won the government in the half-island's first elections after winning independence in 2002. East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, voted for independence from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/sNwdT Tags: East Timor, Elections, President, Vote Section: East Asia, Latest News
