A group of prominent East Timorese leaders, spanning the territory's historical political spectrum, are organizing a new center-right political party with the apparent blessing of independence leader Xanana Gusmao, a key organizer said Wednesday.

To be called the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the new group will make its formal debut on Sept. 3-4, the first anniversary of the announcement of the pro-independence results of the plebiscite last August 30, Mario Carrascalao, a CNRT vice president, told Lusa in Dili.

The PSD "will be one more option for those who do not have one and for those who do not feel mobilized for the period of reconstruction", said Carrascalao, a former governor under Indonesian rule.

"About 10" leading personalities, he added, were involved in organizing the party, including fellow CNRT vice president Jose Ramos Horta. Ramos Horta confirmed his involvement to Lusa. Other sources said both Gusmao, the CNRT president, and the territory's two influential Catholic bishops backed the initiative.

Observers said the new party would seek support among people tired of "the revivalism of the past" of the historic Fretilin and UDT parties, whose brief but bloody 1975 civil war served Indonesia as a pretext to invade and annex the territory.