Timorese Democratic Union

Conservative political party in East Timor

The UDT originally advocated continued links with Portugal instead of complete independence, using the Tetum slogan Mate Bandeira Hun, meaning 'Death in the shadow of the flag', but later formed an alliance with the more left wing Frente Revolucionaria de Timor Leste Independente (Fretilin) to work towards gradual independence in January 1975. Innitially, the party's programme consisted of democracy, human rights, self determination and income redistribution. The founders of the party included the brothers Mário, Manuel and João Carrascalão, Domingos de Oliveira (the first General Secretary), Francisco Lopes da Cruz and César Augusto Mousinho (then Mayor of Dili and Vice President of the UDT). Mário Carrascalão was the founding president, but had to relinquish his office to the former customs officer Lopes da Cruz under pressure from Portuguese officers, as Carrascalão was said to have too close ties to the old dictatorship. Moisés da Costa Amaral was president of the political commission from 1975 to 1989. Augusto Mouzinho, the mayor of Dili, became deputy chairman of the UDT. The suspicion was later confirmed. However, the UDT was defeated by Fretilin in the ensuing civil war. Around 2,000 people died, including UDT supporters who had already been captured by Fretilin. As many as 3.000 UDT politicians and supporters fled across the border to West Timor, where they were required and pressured to sign a petition calling for East Timor's incorporation into Indonesia, After Domingos de Oliveira, Cipriano J. da Costa Gonsalves, and then Francisco David Xavier Carlos were Secretary General. After the end of the occupation, João Viegas Carrascalão was Minister for Infrastructure during the UN administration and coordinated the start of the reconstruction of East Timor. Manuel Carrascalão was Chairman of the National Council, a kind of transitional parliament, from April to September 2001. In the elections to the first parliament of free East Timor on 30 August 2001, the UDT received 2.36% of the vote (8,581) and two of the 88 seats. One reason for this was persistent rumours that the UDT wanted to try to seize power again. UDT deputies were Alexandre Gentil Corte Real de Araújo and Quitéria da Costa. In the 2007 presidential election, João Carrascalão was the last of eight candidates to be eliminated after the first round with just 1.72% of the vote. Whist In the parliamentary elections on 30 June 2007, the UDT received 0.90% (3,753) of the valid votes and thus failed to reach the three per cent threshold. It received the most support in the then district of Ermera, where it received 918 votes (2.2%). In July 2007, the UDT merged with five other parties that had also failed to reach the three per cent threshold in the parliamentary elections to form the Liga Democrática Progressiva (LDP). The LDP is intended to serve as a political platform for the ideologically and programmatically very different parties outside of parliament. To this end, the UDT became a member of the Frenti Dezenvolvimentu Demokratiku (FDD) on 11 December 2017. For the presidential elections in East Timor in 2012, UDT President Santos declared in 2011 that he wanted to support the former military commander in chief Taur Matan Ruak in his candidacy, even though he emphasised his independence from all parties. In the 2012 parliamentary elections, the UDT once again failed to reach the three per cent threshold. It only received 5,332 votes (1.13%). It achieved 3.20% of the vote in Ainaro and 3.29% in Ermera. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the UDT received 1.98% and thus failed to reach the four per cent threshold. The UDT then joined the Fórum Demokrátiku Nasionál (FDN), but left the party alliance again at the end of 2017. Following the political unrest between Fretilin and AMP (Aliança Maioria Parlamentar), comprised by CNRT, PLP and KHUNTO, the President of Timor Leste decided to make another parliamentary snap election to solve the problem. UDT, not giving up on hope, decided to join forces or alliance with three political parties: PUDD (Partido Unidade Desenvolvimento Democrático), Frente Mudança (FRETILIN's separatist party) and PDN (Partido Desenvolvimento Nacional), forming a coalition called FDD (Frente Desenvolvimento Democrático) and won 34,531 votes and won 3 seats. With the FDD, the UDT managed to enter the national parliament in the early elections in 2018 with a 5.5% share of the vote (34,301 votes). With its president Gilman Exposto dos Santos, it now had one member of parliament. However, the FDD broke up after the election of the parliamentary presidency. The UDT president now sat in parliament as a single MP until his death in 2019. UDT Secretary General Francisco David Xavier Carlos succeeded Santos in parliament. Rodolfo Aparicio Guterres became interim president until the next party congress. On 22 February 2020, CNRT, KHUNTO, PD, UDT, FM and PUDD signed a coalition agreement to form a new government. However, President Francisco Guterres did not respond to the alliance's proposal to appoint Xanana Gusmão as Prime Minister. The alliance broke up again at the end of April when KHUNTO withdrew. The UDT wanted to run in the 2023 parliamentary elections in East Timor as part of the Frente Ampla Democrática (FAM) electoral alliance. However, on 14 March, the PDN withdrew from the alliance and submitted its own list of candidates to the Supreme Court of East Timor (Tribunal de Recurso). As no congress or national conference of the party had voted on the electoral alliance, the tribunal decided not to allow the FAD to stand for election. Following the PDN's individual registration, the UDT and the other partners also submitted their own registrations for the election. However, all of these parties failed to reach the four per cent threshold. The UDT only received 0.18% (1,256 votes).

Election Party leaderVotes%Seats+/–PositionGovernment2001Gilman Santos 8,581 2.36%New 5th20073,7530.90% 2 13th 2012 5,332 1.13% 0 11th201711,2551.98% 0 7th201834,3015.49% 1 4th20231,2560.18% 1 14th