By DPA
Sydney : East Timor is set to have a new government led by charismatic former president Xanana Gusmao after a coalition that excluded the ruling Fretilin Party of former prime minister Mari Alkatiri was cobbled together Friday.
"We hope this alliance is able to guarantee a strong and lasting majority," the coalition partners said in a statement issued in Dili, the East Timor capital. "This coalition, which will constitute a majority in parliament, has accepted the call for governance."
Fretilin saw its share of the vote in last weekend's general election slide to 29 percent from 57 percent in 2001.
Gusmao's CNRT won 24 percent of the vote on its first electoral outing and along with minor parties ASDT and PSD can command a majority in parliament.
There were 14 parties bidding for votes from 529,189 registered voters.
It's now almost certain that Fretilin will shift into opposition after governing for the first five years of East Timor's existence as an independent country.
The coalition agreement is likely to see the elevation of ASDT leader Fernando "Lasama" de Araujo to the post of deputy prime minister. The former independence fighter told reporters earlier this week that a coalition with CNRT was likely.
"There are no big differences that separate us from former president Gusmao," he said.
Alkatiri had vowed not to enter a coalition with CNRT.
The general election came a month after a presidential poll won by former prime minister Ramos Horta, a Gusmao ally. Nobel laureate Ramos Horta beat a Fretilin candidate.
Fretilin has dominated East Timor politics since Portuguese rule lapsed in the half-island in 1975. It led the 24-year struggle to split from Indonesia that brought independence in 2002.