The Timorese Democratic Union (, UDT) is a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
. It was the first party to be established in the country on May 11, 1974, following the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
.
History
Early history (1974–1975)

The UDT originally advocated continued
links with Portugal instead of complete independence, using the
Tetum
Tetum may refer to:
* Tetum language, an Austronesian language
** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language
* Tetum people, an ethnic group of East Timor and Indonesia
{{disambiguation
Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
slogan ''Mate Bandeira Hun'', meaning 'Death in the shadow of the flag', but later formed an alliance with the more
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
Frente Revolucionaria de Timor-Leste Independente (Fretilin) to work towards gradual independence in January 1975. Initially, the party's programme consisted of democracy, human rights, self-determination and income redistribution. The founders of the party included the brothers
Mário,
Manuel and
João Carrascalão,
Domingos de Oliveira (the first General Secretary),
Francisco Lopes da Cruz and
César Augusto Mousinho (then Mayor of
Dili
Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...
and Vice President of the UDT). Mário Carrascalão was the founding president, but had to relinquish his office to the former customs officer Lopes da Cruz under pressure from Portuguese officers, as Carrascalão was said to have too close ties to the old dictatorship.
Moisés da Costa Amaral was president of the political commission from 1975 to 1989.
Augusto Mouzinho, the mayor of Dili, became deputy chairman of the UDT.
This alliance lasted for only five months and broke up among accusations that Fretilin was not exercising control over its more extreme members, specifically those of
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
leanings. Although by this time UDT leaders like
Francisco Lopes da Cruz had held meetings with
BAKIN, the then
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...
, which had signalled Jakarta's misgivings about an independent state under Fretilin control.
On August 11 of that year, after a majority in favour of Fretilin threatened to emerge, the UDT staged a coup against the Portuguese administration, and a
three-month civil war erupted. This coup was partly done in order to deprive Indonesia of a pretext for intervention. The neighbouring country threatened to invade in order to prevent Fretilin from coming to power. UDT President Lopes da Cruz was arrested by UDT leaders João Viegas Carrascalão and Domingos de Oliveira, as he was suspected of collaborating with Indonesia. The suspicion was later confirmed.
However, the UDT was defeated by Fretilin in the ensuing civil war. Around 2,000 people died, including UDT supporters who had already been captured by Fretilin. As many as 3.000 UDT politicians and supporters fled across the border to
West Timor, where they were required and pressured to sign a petition calling for
East Timor's incorporation into Indonesia,
with most of the UDT loyalists declining the offer, as it would be considered a betrayal to its own ideology and trust for the country. After the signing, the UDT split into two factions, with only a small percentage of UDT giving up on hope and decided to side with
Timorese Popular Democratic Association (APODETI) to call for Indonesian annexation, while the rest of the UDT decided to take a fight with the Indonesian invading forces or decided to leave Timor to seek help and make a congress with Fretilin in Australia and Portugal to work towards independence.
During Indonesian occupation (1975–1999)
One of the UDT's most senior leaders,
Mário Viegas Carrascalão, sided with the Indonesian regime and served as the governor of Indonesia's '
Timor Timur province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
' between 1987 and 1992. His brother,
João
João is a given name of Portuguese origin. It is equivalent to the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in t ...
, however, led the UDT in exile in Portugal and Australia, later joining with Fretilin in a national unity movement called the
National Council of Maubere Resistance (, ''CNRM''), later called the National Council of Timorese Resistance (, ''CNRT''), due to the disagreement between UDT and Fretilin for using the word "Maubere", as this could possibly divide the Timorese people into two.
After the occupation by Indonesia, East Timorese from Fretilin and UDT living abroad founded a national resistance council in January 1988, headed by
Xanana Gusmão (under the Nacional de Resistência Maubere or CNRM and under the
National Council of Maubere Resistance or CNRT from 1998). The council served as an umbrella organisation to better coordinate the fight for freedom. Manuel Carrascalão later became spokesman for the CNRT. Mário Viegas Carrascalão was governor of East Timor during the Indonesian occupation from 1983 to 1992. He uncovered human rights violations by the Indonesians in East Timor. Mário later became chairman of the East Timor
Social Democratic Party.
Since independence (2002–present)
Following the
change of government in Indonesia in 1998, and subsequently the change of policy, the UDT was able to organise in East Timor, where it supported the
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
campaign. João Viegas Carrascalão led the party as chairman in independent East Timor. He died in February 2012 and
Gilman Exposto dos Santos became president of the UDT in February 2010. After Domingos de Oliveira, Cipriano J. da Costa Gonsalves, and then
Francisco David Xavier Carlos were Secretary General. After the end of the occupation, João Viegas Carrascalão was Minister for Infrastructure during the
UN administration and coordinated the start of the reconstruction of East Timor. Manuel Carrascalão was Chairman of the National Council, a kind of transitional parliament, from April to September 2001.
In the
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
to the first parliament of free Timor-Leste on 30 August 2001, the UDT received 2.36% of the vote (8,581) and two of the 88 seats. One reason for this was persistent rumours that the UDT wanted to try to seize power again. UDT deputies were
Alexandre Gentil Corte-Real de Araújo and
Quitéria da Costa.
In the
2007 presidential election, João Carrascalão was the last of eight candidates to be eliminated after the first round with just 1.72% of the vote. Whist In the
parliamentary elections on 30 June 2007, the UDT received 0.90% (3,753) of the valid votes and thus failed to reach the three per cent threshold. It received the most support in the then district of
Ermera, where it received 918 votes (2.2%).
In July 2007, the UDT merged with five other parties that had also failed to reach the three per cent threshold in the parliamentary elections to form the
Liga Democrática Progressiva (LDP). The LDP is intended to serve as a political platform for the ideologically and programmatically very different parties outside of parliament. To this end, the UDT became a member of the
Frenti Dezenvolvimentu Demokratiku (FDD) on 11 December 2017.
For the
presidential elections
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The ...
in Timor-Leste in 2012, UDT President Santos declared in 2011 that he wanted to support the former military commander-in-chief
Taur Matan Ruak in his candidacy, even though he emphasised his independence from all parties. In the
2012 parliamentary elections, the UDT once again failed to reach the three per cent threshold. It only received 5,332 votes (1.13%). It achieved 3.20% of the vote in Ainaro and 3.29% in Ermera.
In the
2017 parliamentary elections, the UDT received 1.98% and thus failed to reach the four per cent threshold. The UDT then joined the
Fórum Demokrátiku Nasionál (FDN), but left the party alliance again at the end of 2017.
Following the political unrest between Fretilin and AMP (Aliança Maioria Parlamentar), comprised by CNRT, PLP and KHUNTO, the President of Timor-Leste decided to make another parliamentary
snap election
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
to solve the problem. UDT, not giving up on hope, decided to join forces or alliance with three political parties: PUDD (Partido Unidade Desenvolvimento Democrático),
Frente-Mudança (FRETILIN's separatist party) and PDN (Partido Desenvolvimento Nacional), forming a coalition called FDD (Frente Desenvolvimento Democrático) and won 34,531 votes and won 3 seats. With the FDD, the UDT managed to enter the national parliament in the
early elections in 2018 with a 5.5% share of the vote (34,301 votes). With its president
Gilman Exposto dos Santos, it now had one member of parliament. However, the FDD broke up after the election of the parliamentary presidency. The UDT president now sat in parliament as a single MP until his death in 2019. UDT Secretary General
Francisco David Xavier Carlos succeeded Santos in parliament.
Rodolfo Aparicio Guterres became interim president until the next party congress.
On 22 February 2020, CNRT, KHUNTO, PD, UDT, FM and PUDD signed a coalition agreement to form a new government. However, President Francisco Guterres did not respond to the alliance's proposal to appoint Xanana Gusmão as Prime Minister. The alliance broke up again at the end of April when KHUNTO withdrew.
The UDT wanted to run in the
2023 parliamentary elections in Timor-Leste as part of the
Frente Ampla Democrática (FAM) electoral alliance. However, on 14 March, the PDN withdrew from the alliance and submitted its own list of candidates to the
Supreme Court of Timor-Leste (Tribunal de Recurso). As no congress or national conference of the party had voted on the electoral alliance, the tribunal decided not to allow the FAD to stand for election. Following the PDN's individual registration, the UDT and the other partners also submitted their own registrations for the election. However, all of these parties failed to reach the four per cent threshold. The UDT only received 0.18% (1,256 votes).
[CNE]
''Apuramento Eleisaun Parlamentar 2023''
Official Final results, Retrieved on 27 May 2023.
Election results
Legislative elections
References
External links
Official Timorese Democratic Union website
{{Clear
Political parties in Timor-Leste
1975 establishments in East Timor
Political parties established in 1975
Conservative parties in Timor-Leste
Right-wing parties