Gusmao's party sets up coalition to govern East Timor

The country's dominant party, Fretilin, won the most seats in the election with 29.01 percent of the vote, but it failed to get an absolute majority.

Gusmao's National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, having garnered 24.1 percent of the vote, formed a coalition with an alliance of the Social Democratic Association of East Timor and the Social Democratic Party, which came in third with 15.75 percent of

the vote, and the Democratic Party, which got 11.31 percent.

''Today, we all witness the announcement of the formation of this coalition to form a government,'' CNRT Secretary General Deonisio Babo said in declaring the creation of the coalition.

The coalition is expected to have 37 seats in the 65-seat parliament. A total of 12 individual parties and two coalitions of two parties each participated in the election.

Fretilin, whose members dominate the outgoing parliament, lost luster after violence rocked the country in April and May last year, leaving at least 37 people dead and many thousands displaced, and prompting the return of international troops to restore order. It is expected to gain 21 seats in the next parliament.

Fernando de Araujo, president of the Democratic Party, told reporters that Fretilin had approached him with an offer to join it in setting up a coalition, but he preferred to join the CNRT.

''The people sitting next to me are the closest friends of the Democratic Party, so we decided to walk together,'' he said at a press conference with his coalition partners. Social Democratic Party President Mario Viegas Carrascalao said the four-party alliance ''is committed to form an effective government, hoping it can produce stability in the future.'

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, gained its independence in 2002 after two-and-a-half years under U.N. administration following a popular vote in 1999 in which its people voted to separate from Indonesia.//Kyodo