The leftist Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, better known as Fretilin, has won the largest share of votes in East Timor's legislative election but will likely fall short of the absolute majority required to govern, according to election results Sunday.

Nearly 95 percent of votes have been counted Sunday evening from the tiny country's 13 districts, according to the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration. Saturday's parliamentary election was the country's first without U.N. supervision.

The secretariat said Fretilin is in the lead with 30.5 percent of the total votes counted. The party is led by Mari Alkatiri, East Timor's first post-independence prime minister.

The center-left National Congress for East Timorese Reconstruction party, or CNRT, led by former independence fighter Xanana Gusmao, the country's first president after independence, was at 27.8 percent.

"We are happy with this victory, but we will embrace others to join into the government," Alkatiri told Fretilin's supporters in a victory speech.

Alkatiri, however, said that Fretilin will "continue to cooperate with my brother Xanana Gusmao to develop the country in efforts to improve its economy to free the East Timorese people from poverty," signaling his openness to form a coalition with the CNRT.

"Fretilin doesn't win alone. This is also the victory of Xanana Gusmao," he added. "The message from the people is clear that we must walk together, join hand-in-hand to develop this country."

Trailing the two main parties are the Democratic Party at 10 percent and the newly established Popular Liberation Party, led by former President and guerilla fighter Taur Matan Ruak, at 9.8 percent.

Another smaller party, Khunto, held 6.8 percent, putting it on track to pass the 4 percent threshold to win seats in the parliament.

In the last election held in 2012, Fretilin won nearly 30 percent of the vote, the second-highest share after the CNRT, and initially entered the opposition after the CNRT formed a coalition with two smaller parties. In 2015, Fretilin and the CNRT entered a "unity government."

A party must win 33 of 65 seats to control the unicameral parliament outright. Parliamentarians are elected through a party-list proportional representation system.

Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications Gastao de Sousa, a Fretilin member, said his party is the strongest as it does not depend on an individual figure to gain public support as the CNRT does.

"If a party depends on an individual figure, it will collapse when the figure dies," de Sousa told Kyodo News.

After 15 years of independence, the young democracy's government continues to face a slew of economic issues including high unemployment.

An opinion poll conducted last December by the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit international development organization, showed an overall downward trend in views about the country's outlook, with increasing levels of discontent among younger voters.

Indonesia annexed East Timor by force in 1974 after it had been under Portuguese colonial rule for about 400 years. East Timor formally gained independence in 2002 after two and a half years under U.N. administration following a referendum in 1999, in which the East Timorese overwhelmingly voted for separation.