The vote was accepted on Sunday during the CCI-TL annual congress.

Lima received 126 of the 251 votes, with Clarisa Lay narrowly missing out with 114 votes.

In his acceptance speech, Lima said he wanted to help motivate “big growth” in a united private sector that worked hand-in-hand with the government to develop a bright future for Timor-Leste.

Lima said providing more opportunity for local businesses to access credit from the Bank of Timor-Leste would be a priority.

Lay made a gracious concession speech in front of the CCI-TL delegates reminding them of the importance of women’s contribution to Timor-Leste business.

Lay said she was “happy” to compete against a man for the presidency, and encouraged more women to see opportunity within Timor-Leste’s private sector.

Meanwhile Franquilino da Costa Freitas, a delegate of CCI-TL, said the result had been “disappointing” and accused the election of fraud.

Freitas said “irregularities” had been reported in the vote count. He said a protest letter seeking to disqualify the vote would be submitted to the State of Timor-Leste.