On the road to independence

摘要

Few in East Timor have- doubts about which party will win the election on August 30th. The question is, by how much? Fretilin, otherwise the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, has changed somewhat since the heady days of 1975, when it won a brief civil war in the former Portuguese colony and East Timor was declared independent, only to be faced nine days later with an Indonesian invasion. Fretilin has toned down its left-wing talk and abandoned its Marxist leanings. It has run a slick campaign to try to win the favour of some 400,000 voters and predicts it will take 80-85% of the 88 seats in the assembly. That would allow it to dictate the country's constitution, the assembly's first task, paving the way for a presidential election and independence next year. At present East Timor is run by a United Nations administration.