A Victory for One, Not Many.(East Timor)(Brief Article)

Once upon a time the result would have been clear cause for celebration: a tiny country frees itself from the shackles of a colonizing power and, in free and democratic elections, brings its freedom fighters to power. But in East Timor, that precise outcome may spell trouble ahead.

Election results to be announced this week indicate that the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, or Fretilin, has likely won a commanding 55 out of 88 parliamentary seats in a vote held on Aug. 30. That's five seats shy of the number required to pass a constitution--the Legislature's first task-- without consulting other parties. But the victory ensures that Fretilin will dominate the island nation's first government. Even revered independence leader Xanana Gusmo, almost certain to be voted president of the new republic in elections in April 2002, stumped for smaller parties during the campaign, arguing that his former comrades should not be given too much power. "A big Fretilin win could kill the dynamic of debate and compromise," warns Agio Pereira, a former member of the United Nations-sponsored National Council, the territory's recently disbanded Legislature.

Going into the election, Fretilin--formed in the 1970s and banned by Indonesia when it invaded in December 1975--was the only party most East Timorese had ever heard of. So the 57 percent of the vote garnered by the party is less impressive a mandate than it seems. Party leader Mari Alkatiri is sounding appropriately humble. "We will never be a one-party state," he told NEWSWEEK before the vote. "Even if we win big, we will consult others and form a coalition of talent."

Timorese have reason to doubt his words. ...