MEDIA RELEASE - FRETILIN PROPOSES ANICETO GUTERRES LOPES FOR THE POSITION OF PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE
FRETILÍN

Rua dos Mártires da Pátria, Comoro, Dili, Timor-Leste, e-mail fretilistaccf@yahoo.com, Tel/fax 3317219



MEDIA RELEASE

FRETILIN PROPOSES ANICETO GUTERRES LOPES FOR THE POSITION OF PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT

Dili, Saturday, 29 July 2007


FRETILIN’s Central Political-Executive Committee, the National Political Council, decided unanimously at its meeting in Dili today to propose for the position of President of the National Parliament, FRETILIN deputy (parliamentarian) elect and lawyer Aniceto Guterres Lopes, given his involvement in the struggle for national liberation and consistent and intransigent defense of human rights as well as his qualities in terms of clarity of principles, integrity and leadership capacities.

Aniceto Guterres has been a member of the Council of State since 2005, was President of the Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2002 until 2005 and is a co-founder of the NGO Yayasan HAK (2002-2003). From 2000 until 2001 he was a member of the National Council, a consultative body during the UNTAET administration. In 2000 he founded the Timor-Leste Jurists’ Association. Between 1992 and 1996, he was Secretary of ETADEP, a non-government organization dedicated to community development in Timor-Leste.

He was an active member of RENETIL, a student organization that supported the resistance against the Indonesian occupation.

In 2003 he was awarded by the President of the Philippines the “Maqsaysay Award for Emerging Leadership.”

In recognition of his attributes and dedication to the party, the party Congress of May 2006 elected him to the National Juridical Commission of FRETILIN.

At today’s meeting of the National Political Commission the issue of the formation of the IV Constitutional Government was also discussed, emphasizing the terms of the constitution, that the President of the Republic should first invite FRETILIN to form the government given that it was the most voted party at the 30 June 2007 elections.

In the meantime, in relation to the formation of the government, the Secretary General of FRETILIN, Dr. Mari Alkatiri, insisted with the CPN that he would not be a candidate for the position of Prime Minister of the RDTL, and that the CPN should propose another candidate to the position when FRETILIN is invited to do so by the President of the Republic.

The deputies elect also participated in this meeting.

For further information, please contact:
-Arsenio Bano, Vice President of FRETILIN, member of the CPN and deputy elect, Tel. 733 9416
-José Teixeira, deputy elect, Tel. 728 7080