Parliament recently narrowly defeated the Alliance for Change and Progress’s government’s second attempt to pass the 2020 budget through the National Parliament, leading to a schism in the governing coalition.

The National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction members, the biggest party in the ruling coalition government, abstained from the vote.

Members of parliament from KHUNTO and People’s Liberation Party, the remaining coalition parties, voted in favour.

The voting spill prompted Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak to say his governing coalition, AMP, “no longer exists”.

"The KHUNTO party is ready to support whatever decision the President takes (to end political uncertainty),” Berta do Santos, the President of KHUNTO, said.

On Thursday Santos and fellow KHUNTO leaders, Jose Agostino, Antonio Nobre Amaral and Luis Roberto met with President of the Republic, Francisco Lu Olo Guterres, to convey concern over the political stalemate.

KHUNTO warned this could lead to unwelcome friction on services with consequences for development, stability and the economy.

The party is now pressing Guterres to use constitutional powers to mediate.

Santos said his party backed “any decision” Guterres had to reso