Enrich the National Unity of the Sons of Timor
Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan
AbbreviationKHUNTO
Founded22 June 2011 (2011-06-22)
(officially registered)
National Parliament
5 / 65
Party flag

Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan (lit. 'Enrich the National Unity of the Sons of Timor', KHUNTO) is a political party in East Timor. KHUNTO is affiliated with the Korka martial arts group, and has a membership base that consists of various martial arts groups throughout East Timor.[1]

History

KHUNTO was officially registered on 22 June 2011[2] and is affiliated with the martial arts group Korka.[3] In the 2012 parliamentary elections it received 2.97% of the vote, narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold of 3%. However, in the 2017 parliamentary elections the party's vote share increased to 6.43% and it won five seats in the National Parliament. In the 2023 parliamentary elections the party's vote share further increased to 7.51% and it again won five seats in the National Parliament.

Ideology

KHUNTO has made combating corruption the focus of its program. The party combines the democratic system with traditional Timorese beliefs as interpreted by ritual and martial arts groups in recent years. Although almost all East Timorese profess the Catholic faith, these ideas are widespread. Voters declare their loyalty to the party with a "blood oath" (juramento). According to belief, if it is not kept, the oath-breaker faces misfortune, illness and death. Conversely, the politicians are obliged by the oath of their electorate to help them with problems and not to enrich themselves through political offices. The details of the implementation of political goals are less relevant for the electorate than the trust that is placed in the KHUNTO members. In the event of a government takeover, the party aims to have state officials also swear a juramento, so that they would fear punishment by supernatural forces in the event of corruption. KHUNTO followers do not see the customary oath on the Bible as being so effective, because according to Christian belief, punishment for misconduct only occurs after death in the afterlife.[4]

The binding of the voters through the oath seems only partially successful. According to a party leader, 89,000 voters passed the juramento ahead of the 2017 general election, but KHUNTO received only 36,547 votes. On the one hand, the votes came from the ranks of unemployed young people who see no prospects and are often supporters of the various martial arts groups, but the majority of the votes came from the rural regions of the country.[4]

Election results

In the parliamentary elections of 2012, the KHUNTO failed with 13,998 votes (2.97%) at the three percent hurdle as the country's fifth strongest party. In her stronghold Ainaro she received votes, which corresponded to a share of 5.09%; in Manatuto with 1,085 votes even 5.33%. The KHUNTO also received over 3% in the former districts of Aileu (3.95%), Baucau (3.08%), Bobonaro (3.17%), Ermera (3.05%), Lautém (3.01%) and Liquiçá (3.19%).[5]

In the parliamentary elections in East Timor in 2017, KHUNTO was the smallest party to enter parliament with 6.43% of the votes.[6] and resulting in five seats.[7]

In the parliamentary elections on May 12, 2018, the AMP coalition managed to win 34 of the 65 seats and thus an absolute majority in parliament with a share of 49.6% (309,663 votes).[8][9][10]

Presidential elections

Election Candidate First round Second round Outcome
Votes % Votes %
2022 Armanda Berta dos Santos 56,690 8.70% — — Lost Red X

Legislative elections

Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Status
2012 Armanda Berta dos Santos 13,998 2.97%
0 / 65
 New 5th Extra-parliamentary
2017 36,547 6.43%
5 / 65
 Increase 5 Steady 5th Opposition
2018 Part of AMP
5 / 65
 Steady 0 Increase 4th Coalition
2023 52,031 7.51%
5 / 65
 Steady 0 Steady 4th Opposition

References

  1. ↑ Raue, Ben; Maley, Michael (16 June 2023). "Podcast #96: Timor-Leste's parliamentary election". The Tally Room. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Dennis Shoesmith (2011) Political Parties and Groupings of Timor-Leste, Australian Labor International
  3. ↑ Timor-Leste election: 'Disenfranchised youth' party wins first seats in parliament ABC, 24 July 2017
  4. 1 2 Edward Aspinall & James Scambary: Fighting corruption with spiritual power in East Timor, In: New Matilda, 3. November 2017, retrieved on 5 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "STAE". Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2022-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), retrieved on 9 September 2012
  6. ↑ STAE: Vorläufiges Endergebnis vom 24. Juli 2017.
  7. ↑ "Who is in Timor-Leste's new Parliament? / Se tuir iha Parlamentu Nasionál foun?". La'o Hamutuk. 2017-07-23. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  8. ↑ "Apuramento CNE 2022". www.cne.tl. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  9. ↑ "Timor-Leste/Eleições: Tribunal de Recurso valida resultados, vitória da Fretilin". www.dn.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  10. ↑ List of Candidates, retrieved on 22 Mei 2018.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.