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DILI - More than 700 polling stations have opened across East Timor, where half a million voters will elect a new government in a ballot closely monitored by international observers.
Former president and resistance hero Xanana Gusmao, with his new party CNRT, is attempting to unseat the ruling Fretilin party, which has dominated East Timorese politics since independence five years ago.
Fourteen different political parties are contesting the elections, in a bid to snare a share of parliament's 65 seats.
East Timorese are expected to turn out early to vote across the remote half island nation despite poor weather, after high attendance at the first two presidential elections earlier this year in which former prime minister Jose Ramos Horta was elevated to the presidency.
Analysts say they will likely be voting for personalities, rather than policies, with few of the parties offering detailed plans to lift the tiny country out of its endemic poverty, widespread unemployment and ongoing gang troubles.
Nor is any party expected to receive an absolute majority of seats, with a coalition likely needed to form government.
The election will be monitored by hundreds of international observers and thousands of foreign police and troops, following sporadic violence in Dili and some of the districts.
Voting finishes at 5pm (7pm NZT).
- AAP
