DILI: A speech by the Petroleum Fund Consultative Council in National Parliament aimed at clarifying the State’s multi-million-dollar energy project plans was cut short early Tuesday with Xanana Gusmao, Timor-Leste’s Chief oil and gas negotiation, claiming members of the Fretilin opposition party were playing politics with national plans.

DILI:Xanana Gusmao has called on Timor-Leste’s President Francisco Lu Olo Guterres to cease his Fretilin party influence, in a bid to end a prolonged political impasse that has stalled parliament since January.

A legislative stalemate has dominated Timor-Leste’s politics since a coalition of opposition parties, led by Gusmao and with the majority of seats in parliament, refused to pass Fretilin’s government program.

DILI: Xanana Gusmao is tipped to return as Prime Minister of Timor-Leste with his coalition of opposition parties taking a lead in the final stages of the preliminary election count, according to the state election commission.