Horta and Lu-Olo will fight in the second round of the presidential election

DILI, www.news-vptv.com – Timor-Leste must repeat the presidential election, after the results achieved on 19 March 2022, of the 16 presidential candidates who ran, none of them won 50% + 1 of the vote.

“Since no one has won 50%+1, the presidential election will be held for the second time on April 19 with two presidential candidates, namely Joe Ramos Horta and Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo,” said Timor-Leste’s chief justice, Deolindo dos Santos in his ratification session, Tuesday (29/3/2022).

In the March 19 presidential election, Jose Ramos Horta only won 46.6% of the total 303,477. Meanwhile, Francisco Guterres Lu-olo who got 144,282 votes was only able to get 22.1%.

In the current election, there are 16 presidential candidates apart from Jose Ramos Horta and Francico Guterres Lu-Olo. The other 14 candidates are Armanda Berta dos Santos, Lere Anan Timur, Mariano Assanami Sabino, Anacleto Bento Ferreira, Martinho Gusmão, Hermes Barros, Isabel Ferreira, Milena Pires, Felizberto Duarte, Constancio Pinto, Rogerio Lobato, Virgilio Guterres, Antero da Silva , and Angela Freitas.

Previously in 2007-2012 Jose Ramos Horta served as president of Timor-Leste, while Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo currently also serves as president.

Since

being recognized for its sovereignty on 20 May 2022 by the United Nations, Timor-Leste has held 5 presidential elections with the first presidents after the restoration of independence were Xanana Gusmão (2002-2007), Jose Ramos Horta (2007-2012), Taur Matan Ruak ( 2012-2017), and Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo (2017-2022).

When proclaiming its independence on November 28, 1975, the then President of Timor-Leste was Francisco Xavier do Amaral. After being arrested by the Indonesian military, the post of president was then continued by Nicolau Lobato.

Oil and Gas is Timor-Leste’s main commodity in terms of wealth. In addition, it also has coffee which is the largest export commodity for this country.