Polls open for voters in East Timor

East Timor began voting today for a new president, a critical step in Asia’s newest nation following violence and political turmoil last year that took it to the brink of civil war.

About 500,000 people are eligible to vote in the polls, which pit Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta against Fransisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres, an ex-guerrilla turned politician who spent years in the jungles fighting Indonesian rule.