BSS/AFP :
Nobel laureate Jose Ramos- Horta scored a landslide victory in East Timor’s presidential election, according to preliminary results published Wednesday by the election secretariat.
Ramos-Horta defeated incumbent Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres by 62.09 percent to 37.91 percent, paving the way for a second term in office after serving as president from 2007 to 2012. The 72-year-old was dominant in the election’s first round on March 19, winning 46 percent of votes versus Guterres’ 22 percent.
Ramos-Horta had pledged to break a longstanding deadlock between the two main political parties in Southeast Asia’s youngest country if he won the run-off election. He came out of retirement to challenge Guterres after accusing him of violating the constitution.
