In a crushing defeat for the former ruling Fretilin party, the deputies of the newly convened National Parliament have elected the leader of the Democratic Party, student resistance leader, Fernando de Araujo Lasama, as President of the Parliament.
In dramatic plenary proceedings on the first day of the newly sworn-in legislature following the 30 June elections, Lasama obtained 42 votes to beat the Fretilin candidate for the presidency of the Parliament, Aniceto Guterres Lopes, who obtained only 21 votes. The Democratic Party won 11.3% of the national vote in the historic poll last month and has entered into an alliance with the Xanana Gusmao's CNRT and the Democratic Social Pary/Timorese Social Democratic Association to control a majority in the Parliament.
