Fretilin

The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Template:Langx, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a separatist organization turned centre-left<ref name="BBC"/> political party in Timor-Leste. It presently holds 19 of 65 seats in the National Parliament. Fretilin formed the government in East Timor until its independence in 2002. It obtained the presidency in 2017 under Francisco Guterres but lost in the 2022 East Timorese presidential election.

Fretilin originally began as a resistance movement that fought for the independence of East Timor from Portugal in 1974 before transforming itself into a separatist organization that aspires, with success, to make the province of Timor Timur break away from Indonesia until 1999. Upon gaining her total independence in 2002, Fretilin became one of several parties competing for power in a multi-party system.

History before independence

Ascendancy and destruction

Fretilin was founded on 20 May 1974 as the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT).<ref name=cavr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The ASDT renamed itself to Fretilin on 11 September 1974 and took a more radical stance, proclaiming itself the “sole legitimate representative” of the East Timorese people.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In response to a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) on 11 August 1975, Fretilin hastily formed an armed wing called Falintil, which emerged victorious after a three week civil war.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Falintil would continue to wage war against the ABRI during its invasion on 7 December 1975 and ensuing occupation.

Fretilin formally declared East Timor's independence from Portugal on 28 November 1975 and inaugurated an 18-member cabinet with members of the Fretilin Central Committee with Francisco Xavier do Amaral as president and Nicolau dos Reis Lobato as both vice president and prime minister.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The two men fell out as the pressures from the occupation escalated, and in September 1977 Lobato had do Amaral arrested for "high treason".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On 31 December 1978, Lobato, do Amaral's successor as president, was killed by the Indonesian forces.<ref name=kiernan128>Template:Cite book</ref> He was succeeded by Mau Lear, who served until he was also tracked down and executed by Indonesian forces on 2 February 1979.<ref name=kiernan128/>

Fretilin came under enormous pressure in the late 1970s. From September 1977 to February 1979, only three of the 52 members of Fretilin's Central Committee survived.<ref name=kiernan128/>

Recuperation and national unity

Fretilin survived despite the military collapse, and was slowly rebuilt under the relatively moderate and nationalist leadership of Xanana Gusmão.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Between March 1981 and April 1984, Fretilin was known as Partido Marxista–Leninista Fretilin (PMLF), and Marxism-Leninism was officially declared the party's ideology. The name was changed back in 1984; furthermore, its revolutionary politics was abandoned in order to further national unity and acquire the support of the UDT and the Catholic Church.<ref>Template:Cite book These pages refer to part 5 of Chega! The Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste, which is included in Kiernan's book.</ref>

History since independence

In the first elections, held in 2001, the year before independence, Fretilin polled 57.4% of the vote and took 55 seats in the 88-seat Assembly. While this gave the party a working majority, it fell short of the two-thirds majority it had hoped for to dictate the drafting of a national constitution.

In the June 2007 parliamentary election, Fretilin again took first place, but with a greatly reduced 29% of the vote and 21 seats.<ref>"National Provisional Results from the 30 June 2007 Parliamentary Elections" Template:Webarchive, Comissão Nacional de Eleições Timor-Leste, 9 July 2007.</ref> In the election, it faced a challenge from the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), led by former president Xanana Gusmão, which placed second. Although Fretilin did not win a majority of seats, its Secretary-General, Mari Alkatiri, spoke of forming a minority government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The party formed a national unity government which included the CNRT,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a collaboration that they had previously rejected.

However, subsequent talks between the parties were unsuccessful in reaching an agreement on a government. After weeks of dispute between the CNRT-led coalition and Fretilin over who should form the government, José Ramos-Horta announced on 6 August that the CNRT-led coalition would form the government and that Gusmão would become prime minister. Fretilin denounced Ramos Horta's decision as unconstitutional, and angry Fretilin supporters in Dili immediately reacted to Ramos-Horta's announcement with violent protests.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Lindsay Murdoch, "Violence greets Horta's PM decision", smh.com.au, 6 August 2007.</ref> Alkatiri said that the party would fight the decision through legal means<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and would encourage people to protest and practice civil disobedience.<ref name=People>Lindsay Murdoch, "Fretilin threatens 'people-power' coup", theage.com.au, 9 August 2007.</ref> A few days later, Fretilin Vice-president Arsénio Bano said that the party would not challenge the government in court, and expressed a desire for a "political solution" leading to the creation of a national unity government.<ref>"Planned challenge to E Timor Govt dropped", AFP (abc.net.au), 15 August 2007.</ref>

Francisco Guterres of Fretilin served as president of East Timor from 2017 to 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Guterres sought re-election to a second term in 2022, but lost to José Ramos-Horta.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The CNRT was in power from 2007 to 2017, but Fretilin Secretary-General Mari Alkatiri formed a coalition government after the July 2017 parliamentary election. However, his new minority government soon fell, resulting in a second general election in May 2018, which the CNRT won as part of the 2017–2020 coalition called the Alliance for Change and Progress (AMP).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Election results

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	First Round		Second Round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
2007	Francisco Guterres	112,666	27.89%	127,342	30.82%	Lost Template:N
2012		133,635	28.76%	174,408	38.77%	Lost Template:N
2017		295,048	57.08%	Template:N/A	Template:N/A	Won Template:Y
2022		144,282	22.13%	242,939	37.90%	Lost Template:N

Legislative elections

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
2001	Mari Alkatiri	208,531	57.37%	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:Increase 1st	Template:Yes2
2007		120,592	29.02%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 34	Template:Steady 1st	Template:No2
2012		140,786	29.87%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 4	Template:Decrease 2nd	Template:No2 Template:Small
							Template:Yes2 Template:Small
2017		168,422	29.65%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 2	Template:Increase 1st	Template:Yes2
2018		213,324	34.29%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:Decrease 2nd	Template:No2 Template:Small
							Template:Yes2 Template:Small
2023		178,338	25.75%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 4	Template:Steady 2nd	Template:No2

See also

• Free Aceh Movement
• Free Papua Movement
• Republik Maluku Selatan
• Separatism
• List of political parties in Timor-Leste
• Category:Fretilin politicians