On February 2, President Xanana GUSMAO set April 9 as the date of the next presidential election. A date for parliamentary elections, due later this year, is to be announced after the presidential vote.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta at the end of February formally announced that he will stand for president in the April elections. The country's current president, Xanana Gusmao, has repeatedly said he will not run again.

Mr Ramos-Horta has been Prime Minister since last year, when he was appointed following widespread riots. Mr Ramos-Horta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - along with East Timor's Bishop Carlos Belo - for non-violent resistance to Indonesian rule in 1996.