Paulina Quintao – President elect Francisco 'Lu-Olo' Guterres has congratulated the Timorese people for entrusting him with their votes for the 2017-2022 term.
"I am happy for this and congratulate everyone," he said at the Fretilin central office in Dili.
Lu-Olo pledged to stand by his campaign motto "A President for everyone" during his five-year mandate. "I will be a president for all Timorese people – we are all Timorese and we should work together to develop our country," he said.
Lu-Olo was one of eight candidates contesting this year's presidential election, held on March 20.Lu-Olo received 57.63% of the vote, which is set to deliver him to the presidential palace.
Of the other seven candidates, Antonio da Conceicao won a 32.09% share, Jose Neves Sama Larua received 2.18%, Jose Luis Guterres 2.65%, Luis Tilman 2.15%, Antonio Maher Lopes 1.73%, Amorin Vieira 0.81% and Maria Angela Freitas 0.78%.
Lu-Olo ran in the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections, but failed on both occasions to secure enough votes to take office.
Lu-Olo's candidacy was supported by the two major political parties: Fretilin (of which he is the president) and the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), led by charismatic leader and Timor's first president after independence Xanana Gusmao.
Meanwhile, President of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) Alcino Barris said the results would be handed to the Court of Appeal to be formally verified once final counting is complete.
"People already know the provisional results [and] who is elected, but this election has established principals under the law, so that is why we must comply with the regulations to ensure a definitive result," he said.
He said CNE had received 230 complaints about the voting system and each of these would also need to be verified clearly.
He said the vote count had been done manually, starting from the voting centers to the municipalities, with the final count conducted by CNE commissioners and technical staff under the supervision of candidates' monitors, as well as national and international observers.
Meanwhile, human rights activist Jose Luis Oliveira called on the elected president to fulfill his promises to the people made during the campaign.
He also called for the elected president to uphold his responsibilities and negotiate with state entities to ensure that laws are properly enforced across the country.