Australian Prime Minister John Howard has welcomed the election of Jose Ramos-Horta as new president of Timor-Leste.

Horta won Wednesday's presidential run-off in Timor-Leste, getting 73 percent or 273,685 votes of the total 90 percent or 375, 095 counted votes in the entire nation, while his rival Francisco Guterres Lu Olo getting 27 percent of the total votes.

Howard offered congratulations, saying Horta is a friend of Australia.

"I think he was the hope of the side, I don't want to be disrespectful to his opponent, but now that he's won, I think he will be good," Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting radio Friday.

"He's a person of great dedication and he's a good friend of Australia and that's very important," he said.

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Horta will do a very good job as president of Timor-Leste.

"He's a very good friend and you know we've worked together very closely over so many years," Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

"I don't really want to express any political bias, excepting to say that at the personal level I'm very pleased," he added.

Source: Xinhua