East Timor votes for president after year of crisis

Dili, Apr 9: Voters in East Timor choose a new president today, hoping the election can help end deep divisions after a year of instability in one of the world's youngest and poorest nations.

Just over half a million voters will pick the new president in Monday's election that outgoing President Xanana Gusmao says is a chance to demonstrate his nation is not a failed state.

Supporters of rival candidates clashed during campaigning last week, injuring more than 30 people and prompting international troops to fire tear gas and warning shots.

Voters were streaming into a polling station in an elementary school in the capital Dili early on Monday.

''This election is important for he country's future. I hope the new president will lift us out of the crisis,'' said Rogerio dos Santos, a 30-year-old farmer waiting to cast his ballot.

The capital appeared calm on Monday, although residents said that overnight two soldiers described as drunk fired shots while stopping traffic. No one was hurt in the incident, they said.

Maria Angelina Sarmento, a member of the National Election Commission, sounded on Sunday a warning on more violence.

''We and also voters are worried about security, particularly in Dili, which is a very high risk area,'' she told Reuters.

The violence has heightened fears the impoverished country of one million people, whose secession from Indonesian rule in 1999 triggered widespread violence by pro-Jakarta militias, could again descend into chaos.

Eight candidates are running, including Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace prize winner who spearheaded an overseas campaign for independence from Indonesia. If no one wins more than half the vote, a run-off will be held, a scenario some analysts see as likely.

Gusmao, an ally of Ramos-Horta, is not running for re-election but plans to seek the more hands-on post of prime minister in a separate parliamentary election later this year.

Troops To Patrol:

Around 3,000 international troops and police will patrol to safeguard the elections, while about 200 international observers are monitoring the voting.

Some of the 700 polling stations are so remote the ballot papers will be delivered on horses.

Gusmao has blamed last week's clashes on the Fretilin Party of ousted Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, accusing its leaders of allowing supporters to provoke violence.

The party has denied the accusations, saying its supporters had been victims.

Fretilin's candidate, Francisco Guterres, is a front-runner in the elections.

''East Timorese hope that this election will put an end to the crisis that has divided the nation and whoever wins will be accepted by the people,'' analyst Julio Thomas of the National University of Timor Leste told Reuters.

Thomas sees the poll as a three-way race between Ramos-Horta, Guterres and Fernando de Araujo of the Democratic Party who has backing from the many young people.

Pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a violent rampage following a 1999 vote for independence, killing about 1,000 people and destroying much of the territory's infrastructure.

East Timor again descended into chaos last May after the government sacked 600 rebellious soldiers. More than 30 people were killed and 100,000 fled their homes, until the government asked foreign troops to quell the unrest.

Reuters