DILI: Incoming East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta's chances of achieving major reform in the troubled tiny state hinge on the outcome of next month's parliamentary elections, analysts said. The Nobel laureate won Wednesday's presidential poll in a landslide, raising the hopes of impoverished East Timorese struggling for a better life five years after independence from occupying Indonesia.

Ramos-Horta immediately pledged to reform the fractured military, strengthen the economy and unite the country when he replaces charismatic former guerilla leader Xanana Gusmao as president later this month. But the role of president is largely ceremonial, leaving Ramos-Horta with few powers to implement the substantial changes that he says East Timor desperately needs, said Timor expert Damien Kingsbury.

“He basically has two roles, one is a symbolic head of state and the other is that he has power of veto over legislation passed in parliament,” said Kingsbury from Australia's Deakin University.

Ramos-Horta must await the outcome of parliamentary polls in June to determine if he can work effectively with a newly elected government and prime minister to introduce change, Kingsbury said.—AFP