The Timorese Social Democratic Association (;

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

ASDT) was a

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, ...

East Timor 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 ...

. Both the original ASDT of the 1970s (which became

Fretilin The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a separatist organization turned centre-left political party in Timor-Leste. It presently holds 19 of 65 seats in the National Parliament. Fretilin formed the ...

) and the current party of the same name are founded by the late ex-Timorese President

Francisco Xavier do Amaral Francisco Xavier do Amaral (3 December 1937 – 6 March 2012) was an East Timorese politician. A founder of the ''Frente Revolucionária de Timor Leste Independente'' (Fretilin), Amaral was sworn in as the first President of East Timor wh ...

. In the

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

held on 30 August 2001, the party won 7.8% of the popular vote and 6 out of 88 seats. In the June 2007 parliamentary election, ASDT which was then led by Secretary General Gil Alves formed an alliance with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD) which he stated that the coalition aims to establish a good collaboration, creating a system based on history, culture, experience and ability to govern. The program of the two related parties is based on a clear strategy that will bring progress in all sectors. Together they won 15.73% of the vote and 11 seats. In 2012 party President Francisco Xavier do Amaral died, due to this and the previous problems made ASDT split into two, namely the Gil Alves camp as Secretary General and the interim President of the party and the João Correia camp which carried Ramos-Horta as honorary president. In the end the decision of the Court of Appeals of Timor-Leste in favor of João Correia's version of ASDT. In 2017 the same thing happened again, in the internal stronghold of the ASDT party there has been a power struggle between two camps, namely the Francisco da Silva camp as president and João Correia's camp as its leader. And because there are two versions of the ASDT party, the Court of Appeal stated that the ASDT party could not contest in the July 2017 parliamentary election. And since 2018 the party have not attended elections for five years either at the local and national level with their own program. The ASDT party must declare the loss of it status as a political party in accordance with the law and the decision made by Court of Appeal from the consequence for not submitting their candidate list for the May 2018 early parliamentary election. ASDT party appealed against the decision and was rejected. In 2021 the Court of Appeal again declared seven political parties that were declared dead since 2018 could no longer take part in general elections including ASDT.

References

{{Clear 1970s establishments in East Timor 1974 establishments in Southeast Asia Defunct political parties in Timor-Leste Political parties established in 1974 Separatism in Indonesia