DILI, East Timor — East Timorese voted Saturday in their second election for parliament in less than a year after the collapse of a minority government. A three-party alliance led by independence hero Xanana Gusmao’s National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction party is vying against Fretilin, which headed the short-lived government formed following July’s election. Both sides in the election are promising economic development to reduce widespread poverty in East Timor. The final days of campaigning were marred by violence when activists from the Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor, or Fretilin, attacked supporters of Gusmao’s party. For the past decade, East Timor governments have focused on infrastructure projects and a dwindling oil fund to boost their economy but made little progress in addressing poverty in rural areas where 70 per cent of East Timorese live.

Source: National Post May 12, 2018 04:12 UTC