Timor Leste's Ramos-Horta to make new run for presidency
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Dr Ramos-Horta (centre) was president of Timor Leste between 2007 and 2012; and served as prime minister between 2006 and 2007.
PHOTO: AFP
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DILI (REUTERS) - Timor Leste's independence figure and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mr Jose Ramos-Horta, will stand for president in the country's elections due to be held in March, the political party backing his bid said on Monday (Jan 24).
The National Congress of the Reconstruction of Timor Leste (CRNT), a party led by former president Xanana Gusmao, threw its support behind the 72-year-old's renewed presidential ambitions at its conference on Sunday.
"We believe Ramos-Horta will win the general election, not because of who Ramos-Horta is as a figure but because of support from the people," CNRT party member, Mr Fransisco Dos Santos, told Reuters.
Mr Ramos-Horta was president of Timor Leste between 2007 and 2012. Before that, he served as prime minister between 2006 and 2007.
A former Portuguese colony, the half-island nation that is also known as East Timor gained full independence from Indonesia in 2002 after an almost 24-year rule.
But Asia's youngest democracy has faced bouts of violence. In recent years it has struggled with political instability that has hampered efforts to reduce poverty, stamp out corruption and develop its rich energy resources.
Dr Donald Greenlees, an author of a book about Timor Leste's independence struggle, said Mr Ramos-Horta's bid is indicative of the nation's "guerilla generation" of leaders being unable to let go.
"East Timor unfortunately suffers from an inability to move on generationally when it comes to political leadership and that is tragic for the future of the country," said Dr Greenlees, who is a visiting fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
"If East Timor is to modernise and move into the 21st century properly it needs young people with fresh ideas."
The election, scheduled for March 19, will see Mr Ramos-Horta up against former resistance fighter and incumbent President Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres backed by the Fretilin party, Deputy Prime Minister Armanda Berta dos Santos, and former Catholic priest Martinho Germano da Silva Gusmao.
Still, without support from the other main political parties, Mr Ramos-Horta is "very much the outside candidate", said Professor Damien Kingsbury, an expert on Timor Leste and emeritus professor at Deakin University.
