Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop 

DILI – Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop congratulates to the people of Timor – Leste especially to the opposition coalition won a majority of the seats in Timor-Leste's parliament in an election this month. 

Timor-Leste's Court of Appeal's head, Deolindo dos Santos, said AMP won 49.6 per cent of the votes.

The vote was called in a bid to end months of deadlock in the small South-East Asian country's Parliament, where there had been a minority Government led by prime minister Mari Alkatiri.

"We look forward to the swearing-in of a new prime minister and cabinet, as the Australian Government remains committed to deeper cooperation between our two countries," Ms Bishop said in a statement.

“I also congratulate the election and security authorities on the conduct of this election”.

Australia is Timor-Leste’s largest development and security partner. “As near neighbours, we share mutual interests and deep people-to-people ties. We will work with the new government to deliver on our recently signed historic treaty establishing permanent maritime boundaries”. 

The AMP, a coalition of Mr Gusmao's National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) and two other parties, secured 34 of the 65 seats in Parliament.

The Fretilin party of outgoing PM Mr Alkatiri won 34.2 per cent of votes.

The party had protested about alleged irregularities during the vote, but the appeal court rejected the complaint.

Fidelis Magalhaes, an official from the AMP coalition, said the result should break the deadlock in Parliament.

"East Timor must have a Government that stands and comes from an absolute majority in Parliament," Mr Magalhaes said.

He declined to comment on speculation that former president and prime minister Mr Gusmao would stand again as prime minister.

Mr Gusmao could not be reached for comment.