| Home > South-East Asia >> East Timor | |
New Timor Leste PM pledges to bring unity
Straits Times - June 23, 2018
President Francisco Guterres dissolved Parliament in January after former prime minister Mari Alkatiri's minority government faced a legislative stalemate.
Mr de Vasconcelos is known as Taur Matan Ruak, which means "two sharp eyes". He served in the largely ceremonial role of president between 2012 and last year.
He belongs to a three-party coalition, the Alliance of Change for Progress (AMP), that won 34 of the 65 seats up for grabs in last month's parliamentary election – the fifth since independence from Indonesia in 2002.
The alliance includes his People's Liberation Party, members of independence hero Xanana Gusmao's National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) and the youth-based Khunto.
During his swearing-in at a restored presidential palace built during Portuguese colonial rule, Mr de Vasconcelos promised to "dedicate all my energies and knowledge to the defence and consolidation of independence and national unity".
But illustrating challenges to forming a stable new government, Mr Guterres a day earlier had rejected eight of the ministers put forward by Mr de Vasconcelos because of corruption investigations.
A parliamentary election last year produced no clear winner, with Mr Alkatiri's Fretilin party winning just 0.2 per cent more votes than CNRT, and forming a minority government in the country of 1.2 million people.
Mr Guterres said the political deadlock had created "fear and uncertainty" and the new government needed to use its mandate to "boost national development, living conditions in the communities throughout the country and develop our economy".
Asia's youngest democracy has been largely peaceful in recent years, following recurrent bouts of political instability that it suffered since independence. But it has struggled to reduce poverty, stamp out corruption and develop its rich oil and gas resources.
The energy sector made up about 60 per cent of the country's gross domestic product in 2014 and more than 90 per cent of government revenue.
Mr de Vasconcelos said his new government would improve equality and develop the economy so it does not "just rely on interest from the petroleum fund".
Mr Gusmao, the country's first president and a former prime minister, is expected to take up a special ministerial post to advise the Prime Minister, an AMP official has said.
-- Reuters, Agence France-Presse
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/new-timor-leste-pm-pledges-to-bring-unity.
See also:
 |