DILI, 31 may 2023 (TATOLI) – The Democratic Party (PD) and the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) began the first meetings for the formation of the IX Constitutional Government.
During the meeting, the General Secretary of the DP, António da Conceição ‘Kalohan’ and his team present a letter of congratulations to the General Secretary of CNRT, Francisco Kalbuadi Lay, for CNRT’s victory in the parliamentary elections on 21 may.
During the meeting, Kalohan expressed PD’s interest in joining CNRT to form a coalition for the next government.
“I would like to take this opportunity to present our intention to form the IX Constitutional Government with the CNRT,” Kalohan said during his meeting with Klabuadi at the CNRT office, in Dili, on tuesday.
He said it was just the first meeting for both parties to reflect on the experience of governing together in the past.
Kalohan stressed that both CNRT and PD have almost similar programs, saying that therefore there would be no problem for the two parties to form a coalition government.
At the same place, Kalbuadi said both parties will have another meeting to further discuss and negotiate the formation of the IX Constitutional Government after the official announcement of the results of the parliamentary elections, on june 7.
“Once the result of the parliamentary elections is announced by the Court of Appeal, CNRT, the party with the most votes, will be invited by the President of the Republic to form the coalition government. I will inform Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, the President of CNRT, to arrange a meeting between DP and CNRT to discuss what we can do to serve the people and the nation,” Kalbuadi concluded.
According to the CNE’s provisional tabulation of national results, with all electoral minutes verified, the CNRT of charismatic leader Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão won 41.6% of the vote – a 16-point lead over the ruling FRETILIN party of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri who secured 25.8%. Meanwhile, the PLP of current Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak received only 5.9% of the vote and KHUNTO secured 7.5% of the vote.
The results showed a significant increase in CNRT seats from 21 to 31, allowing Gusmão’s CNRT to form a coalition. On the other hand, both FRETILIN and PLP lost four seats each, with FRETILIN down from its current 23 seats to 19, and PLP down from its current eight seats to four, with the exception of KHUNTO, which is the only party in the current government to retain its five seats.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (PD), one of the opposition parties that has expressed interest in forming a coalition with Gusmão’s CNRT, won 9.3 percent of the vote, securing six seats, up from five seats in the 2017 parliamentary elections.
Despite having many supporters, the Green Party, and the Unity Party for Democratic Development (PUDD) received only 3.6 percent and 3.1 percent of the votes respectively, making both parties fail to pass the electoral threshold of 4% to secure any seats. Besides, the other small parties received only less than one percent of the votes.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
