Timor Leste: East Timor's ruling party, Fretilin, plans to form a minority government

DILI (Reuters) - East Timor's ruling party, Fretilin, plans to form a minority government if attempts to link up with coalition partners fail after recent parliamentary elections, the party's secretary general said on Monday.

The plan comes after CNRT, a party set up by former president Xanana Gusmao, said last week it had lined up partners to form a coalition government. CNRT came second in the June 30 polls with 24 percent of the vote, behind Fretilin's 29 percent support.

"We are still negotiating with other parties and we have already submitted letters to them," said Mari Alkatiri, who stepped down as prime minister last year after a wave of violence when the army split along regional lines.

"We are awaiting their response, but if they all refuse to cooperate with us it means that we must form a minority government."

Fretilin won 21 seats in the 65-seat chamber in the election, Faustino Cardos Gomes, the head of the National Election Commission, said on Monday.

CNRT won 18 seats, while the Association of Timorese Democrats-Social Democratic Party (ASDT-PSD) won 11 and the Democratic Party 8. Other smaller parties took the rest.

Gusmao's CNRT, which the resistance hero established this year as a vehicle to become prime minister, ASDT-PSD and the Democratic Party said on Thursday they had formed a coalition.