The Timorese Nationalist Party ( id, Partai Nasionalis Timor; pt, Partido Nacionalista Timorense; PNT) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

. Founder and President is Abílio Araújo, who was FRETILIN representative overseas during the Indonesian occupation until his dismissal in 1993. Prior to the

1999 East Timorese independence referendum An independence referendum was held in East Timor on 30 August 1999. The referendum's origins lay with the request made by the President of Indonesia, B. J. Habibie, to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 27 January 1999, for th ...

, the PNT advocated an

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

solution rather than independence from Indonesia. In terms of orientation, it is referred to as ''progressive national''.

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

was to remain the official language and the

Indonesian rupiah The rupiah (Currency symbol, symbol: Rp; ISO 4217, currency code: IDR) is the official currency of Indonesia. It is issued and controlled by Bank Indonesia. The name "Rupee, rupiah" is derived from the Sanskrit word for silver, (). Sometimes, I ...

as the currency. Araújo criticized the then President Xanana Gusmão's decision to make Portuguese the official language and in this context repeatedly referred to Gusmão's and

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician currently serving as president of East Timor since May 2022. He previously served as president from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Minister of Fore ...

's Portuguese roots. An important point in the policy of the PNT is the close friendly relationship with Indonesia. Here it works with the Indonesian party PDI-P.

Performance in Elections

Abílio Araújo (2017) In the parliamentary election held on 30 August 2001, the party won 2.2% of the popular vote and 2 out of 88 seats. Deputies were Aires Francisco Cabral and the sister of PNT President

Aliança Araújo Aliança (''Alliance'') is a city located in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, 82 kilometres from Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco. Aliança has an estimated population of 38,397 inhabitants ( IBGE 2020). Geography * State - Pernambuc ...

. In the parliamentary election held on 30 June 2007, the PNT received only 10,057 votes, which corresponds to 2.42% of the valid votes and did not win any seats in parliament, as it did not reach the 3% threshold to win seats. The party found the greatest support in the Baucau district, where she received 1,273 votes (2.46%). The PNT received more than 1000 votes only in the

Viqueque Viqueque (, ) is a city in the south-east of East Timor, 183 km from Dili, the national capital. Viqueque is the capital of Viqueque Municipality Viqueque (, ) is the largest of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Ti ...

district with 1183 votes (3.57%). In July 2007, the PNT joined five other parties that had also failed at the three percent hurdle in the parliamentary elections to form the Liga Democrática Progressiva LDP. The LDP was intended to serve as a political platform outside of parliament for the parties, which were very different in terms of ideology and programme. The PNT was not admitted to the 2012 parliamentary elections because it did not submit its electoral list to the electoral authorities by the deadline. Aliança Araújo competed with her Partido Timorense Democrático (PTD), founded in 2008, but failed to clear the three percent hurdle.

References

Nationalist parties in Asia Political parties in East Timor East Timorese nationalism {{EastTimor-party-stub