Dili – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao rode on horseback through streets lined with adoring supporters here Monday as the campaign for the presidency of the world's newest nation entered its final week.

The charismatic former guerrilla commander, 56, seems certain to sweep to victory in the April 14 poll against his sole challenger Francisco Xavier do Amaral.

But analysts say Gusmao may face a rougher ride as the largely ceremonial head of state due to tensions with the territory's biggest party Fretilin. The veteran pro-independence party will dominate the future parliament and government.

Amaral, 66, was president for nine days in 1975 between East Timor's first independence declaration and Indonesia's invasion. Last month he made a key concession allowing the removal of party logos from ballot papers, averting a threat by Gusmao to boycott the poll over an issue which he said compromised his independence.

Amaral on Monday expressed annoyance at having his prospects written off in advance. But he told AFP he is "not fighting to win or lose" but for principles like peace and human rights.

Gusmao's campaign manager Milena Peres last week paid tribute to Amaral's integrity. But she said some members of Fretilin – which is not backing either man – were using dirty tricks to try to reduce Gusmao's vote. Pires said the members – not necessarily on orders from the party leadership – had been instructing Gusmao's supporters either to vote for Amaral or to spoil their ballots. Many supporters have alleged intimidation attempts.

The allegations of dirty tricks underscore the simmering tensions between the former jungle warrior and Fretilin. Gusmao led Fretilin's military wing in the 24-year independence battle but has since distanced himself from the party. "People in Fretilin see Xanana as a rival to power," said Indonesian lawyer Johnson Panjaitan, who represented Gusmao while he was in jail in Jakarta after being captured in 1992. "There are people within Fretilin who want to become president themselves."

Panjaitan predicted prolonged conflict with Fretilin, which won 57 percent of the vote in last August's elections for a constituent assembly. The assembly will become the parliament after independence on May 20. "Fretilin, I think, will remain intensely critical of Xanana. They will be unrelenting in putting him under pressure," Panjaitan, a regular visitor to East Timor, told AFP. "Definitely there is going to be continued political conflict."

A key source of tensions is Gusmao's policy of granting amnesties to East Timorese involved in the orgy of violence, destruction and forced deportations in the months surrounding the 1999 UN-run ballot on independence.

"Xanana's policy to offer amnesties is intensely criticised by Fretilin. They do not accept his approach and Xanana feels they are arrogant for rejecting it," Panjaitan said. "Xanana says Fretilin must understand that his approach is necessary to maintain the unity of East Timor. He is trying to make East Timor a home for all East Timorese."

Fretilin's deputy leader Mari Alkatiri, the current chief minister who will become prime minister, indicated there were frictions with Gusmao in an interview with Portugal's O Publico newspaper last September.

Alkatiri, who lived in exile in Mozambique during most of the Indonesian occupation, made clear who he felt would be in charge of independent East Timor. "It's the government's job to run the government and the country and the president shouldn't interfere," he said.