(7 Jul 2012) East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, faced a general election on Saturday, as 650,000 voters decided on a government for the next half-decade.
The main fight for the 65 seats in the national parliament is expected to be between three major parties Gusmao's CNRT (Conselho Nacional da Resistencia Timorense), FRETILIN (Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor) headed by Francisco Guterres and Mari Alkatiri, and the Democrat Party, led by Fernando de Araujo.
With another 20 parties fielding candidates, the new government is likely to be a coalition, like the outgoing administration.
The country has oil and gas reserves but living standards are among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.
East Timor was a Portuguese colony for 400 years, until neighbouring Indonesia invaded in 1974. It gained independence in 2002 but progress proved difficult and United Nations peacekeepers are still in the country, following the collapse of civil order in 2006.
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