The presidential office “temporarily closed” to all guests

By Raimundos Oki

DILI, East Timor — East Timor’s President Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres has decided to close his office to all guests following a new political crisis looming in tiny nation after opposition parties rejected a rectification of the current budget.

The Parliamentary Majority Alliance, the country's opposition with 35 seats in the 65-member parliament, voted out the amendment of the 2017 budget by the new government which increased it from $1.39 billion to $1.61 billion.

A two-day debate over the issue ended with most members of the ruling coalition walking out late Tuesday.

The official news agency Tatoli reported that President Guterres remains active as usual despite the office closure.

The president would hold some of his activities including Christmas celebration with his staff and journalists, Tatoli said without specifying when the office would be reopened.

The East Timor Press Council has invited the president to participate in the Professional Card for journalists event on December 20th, but he did not participate because he was busy. So he has been represented by his spokesman Francisco Vasconselho.

East Timor's new government suffered a defeat in parliament on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 when a coalition of opposition parties rejected the budget rectification. The majority parliamentarian alliance also was rejected the government policy program in last October 19. 

The voting process for budget rectification has been start at 8 pm East Timor time where the government party has walked out, only five people have voted against 35 seats from the opposition or majority parliamentarian alliance. Thus, this budget rectification has been rejected.

National parliament president Aniceto Guterres stated that the opposition party has rejected this rectification budget.

"We'll meet again on January 8, 2018," he said. 

The spokesman of CNRT’s party Arão Noe de Jesus considered the rectification budget was unlawful and not too much necessary for the country needs.

“The priority for the people and the State is in the 2018 state budget not in the rectification budget or reviewed budget,” he said.

There is no certainty that whether the government will bring its second program back to parliament or not. If brought to parliament and the opposition party refuses again then this government will fall by itself.

The debate for the rectification budget during two days without presence of prime minister Mari Alkatiri but he was replaced by former prime minister Rui Maria de Araújo. 

“Once again the opposition with their own vote will bring them to defeat. Fight to win!” Alkatiri said in his Facebook.

Alkatiri has always maintained that if opposition parties reject all his programs then the government party prefers to advance to new elections, but the president of republic not yet take any decision on this situation. 

Spokesman of the majority parliamentarian alliance Taur Matan Ruak stated that historically it was recorded that Timor - Leste had never held a double parliamentarian election.

Previously, FRETILIN was part of a national unity government with the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction party of independence hero Xanana Gusmão, or CNRT. In the July election, CNRT lost support and FRETILIN was narrowly the largest party, but they failed to agree on a new grand coalition.

East Timor, a former colony of Portugal, was occupied by Indonesia for a quarter century and gained independence after a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999. Indonesia's military responded to the independence referendum with scorched earth attacks that devastated the East Timorese half of the island of Timor.

Today, the country of 1.3 million people still faces desperate poverty. Leaders have focused on big-ticket infrastructure projects to develop the economy, funding them from a dwindling fund of former oil riches, but progress is slow.

The July vote was East Timor's first parliamentary election without U.N. supervision since peacekeepers left in 2012.