Carol Pineau, Dili – East Timor's reluctant president-in-waiting Xanana Gusmao said on Wednesday he would do his best if voters, as expected, choose him to lead the world's newest natio

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Detained Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung looks set to be ditched by his Golkar party in a move to avoid a damning probe into a financial scandal that coul

Carol Pineau, Dili – Independence leader and presidential candidate Xanana Gusmao is no longer a national leader, East Timor Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri said ahead of April 14 election

East Timor4s presidential election campaign kicked off Friday with a rally in Dili and UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello predicting a peaceful race.

Dili – A candidate in East Timor's upcoming presidential election on Tuesday announced a concession which will allow his only rival, independence hero Xanana Gusmao, to stand in the pol

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – In a bitter power struggle, young Golkar hardliners are fighting a move by the more senior members to expel detained party chief Akbar Tandjung.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia's former ruling Golkar party said it would not withdraw its ministers from the coalition government despite the detention of its chief over a graft scand

Joanna Jolly, Dili – The United Nations is optimistic that a dispute threatening the participation of East Timorese independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao in the nation's fi

Dili – East Timor's reluctant presidential favourite, Xanana Gusmao, threatened Saturday to withdraw from next month's elections over an electoral technicality.

Jakarta – Around 100 PDI Perjuangan members from Surabaya, East Java, demonstrated at the party's headquarters on Jl.

Dominic Whiting, Bangkok – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao, the front-runner to lead the nascent Southeast Asian state, said on Tuesday he wanted to be defeated in his countr

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais has openly declared that he will quit the leadership of the National Mandate Party (PAN) in a move seen as a public relatio

Nusa Dua – Around 170 political parties have so far registered with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to contest the 2004 general election.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – Independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, a potent symbol of East Timor's resistance during decades of Indonesian rule, on Saturday officially declared hi

Jill Jolliffe, Oecussi – East Timor's revolutionary hero, Xanana Gusmao, was met by enthusiastic village crowds this week as the stage was set for him to become president of the 21st ce

Dili – Francisco Xavier do Amaral, a Deputy Speaker of the Constituent Assembly, received a second nomination today for president.

Independence leader Xanana Gusmao said Wednesday he had not yet decided whether he would run for the presidency of East Timor in April 14 elections, adding that he would not bow to "pre

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Even against a background of other political parties with noisy internal disputes, Golkar still manages to stand out in the face of the 2004 general elections, t

Jakarta – Indonesia's second largest and former ruling party, Golkar, has dismissed 16 senior members and suspended three others, it was announced.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – As the beleaguered Golkar Party seeks to remove the thorn in its flesh, a party top official warned on Thursday of tough measures against staunch critic and seni

Francisco Xavier do Amaral, the vice-president of East Timor's Constituent Assembly, has registered formally as the first candidate in the territory's April 14 presidential election, el

Tarko Sudiarno, Yogyakarta – Tension engulfed the tourist city of Yogyakarta on Sunday as hundreds of supporters of the United Development Party (PPP) clashed here with groups of local

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The next general election in 2004 is still a long way off, but political parties have been seen politicizing the severe floods in the capital city as clearly d

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – A member of the General Elections Committee (KPU) urged the House of Representatives on Thursday to immediately revise the 1999 Election Law, or else the committ

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's second-largest political party, Golkar, could be coming apart at the seams.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A group of dissidents has accused the governing Fretilin party of trying to usurp democracy and remain in power for five years beyond its elected mandate.

Dili – East Timor has started preparing for its first presidential elections but with full independence to follow soon after, time is of the essence.

Jakarta – A faction from Indonesia's Muslim United Development Party (PPP) announced it was breaking away Sunday to form a new political group.

A'an Suryana and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – An internal rift has cast a shadow over the planned Golkar Party executive board meeting early next month, which may be marked by talks on hol

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's second-largest political party Golkar is going after President Megawati Sukarnoputri's husband for alleged corrupt business dealings and abuse of po

Dili – In a final step toward nationhood, East Timor will hold its first presidential election on April 14, the territory's UN administrator announced Thursday.

Jakarta – The country's largest Muslim organisation, which founded the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), is giving up on attempts to reconcile two rival factions within the party.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Signs of a crack in the coalition government between the largest and second largest party, which catapulted Megawati Soekarnoputri to the presidency last July,

East Timor's religious leader, Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, called Friday for the holding of legislative elections for the first post-independence Timorese parliament, instead o

East Timor's chief minister, Mari Alkatiri, Thursday denounced an unexpected call for legislative elections as an attempt by opposition forces to provoke a political crisis.

Jakarta – United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz, who is also the vice president, is scheduled to meet with Zainuddin MZ, leader of a PPP splinter group, in Surabaya on Jan.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on all government officials and civil servants to carry out all her decisions and not to hamper the implementati

The Constituent Assembly today approved a motion recommending that East Timor's first presidential election be held in the first or second week of April 2002, and that the voting proces

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB), under the leadership of Alwi Shihab, officially dismissed Matori Abdul Djalil on Thursday from the party for disloya

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The country's highest electoral authority said on Thursday it would soon submit a new bill to the House of Representatives that would impose tighter require

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Firm in its first vote on the contentious issue of presidential elections on Wednesday, the Golkar faction at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Annual S

Jakarta – A majority of factions in Indonesia's top assembly have agreed to hold the country's first ever direct presidential election in 2004, although the format is still being debate

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesians will find out next week whether they will be able to vote directly for their choices of president and vice-president in the 2004 election, after the

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – National Assembly chairman Amien Rais has quietly begun lobbying for the coveted presidential seat in 2004, making regular tours of Indonesian provinces as par

Jakarta – Ousted Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid has said that he is ready to run for the post again if there are no other candidates from his party.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The election victory on August 30 of Fretilin, the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, sent UN and World Bank officials in Dili into an instant poli

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A battle is brewing in Parliament over a move to amend the constitution to enable Indonesians to directly vote for their President and Vice-President by the 200

[The following is the officially certified list of East Timorese who were elected to the Constituent Assembly on the August 30 ballot.

Jana DK, Dili – In its first major mobilisation since the beginning of East Timor's election campaign, on August 25 some 5000 Timorese Socialist Party members and supporters gathered at

Jon Land – Fretilin, the party which declared East Timor independent in 1975 and which was the largest single force in the long fight against occupation, has won 57% of the vote in the