East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao's resignation as leader of his fledgling nation's embryonic parliament is final, East Timorese officials said Thursday. However, Gusmao's decision to step down as head of the National Council will not force a delay in elections for East Timor's first government, they said.

A spokeswoman for Gusmao said he will remain as leader of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), an umbrella group of pro-independence supporters, but will quit his position in the National Council, East Timor's interim parliament.

Gusmao, who led the guerrilla war against Indonesia's occupation and annexation of East Timor before his capture and imprisonment, was widely favoured to become the first president of the world's newest nation. His colleagues in the CNRT were awaiting a full explanation from their former leader, council spokesman Joao Goncalves said.

"I believe that his decision is irreversible. I don't believe he will reconsider," Goncalves said. Gusmao was expected to issue a statement Thursday outlining his reasons for quitting ahead of the withdrawal of the United Nations administration that currently runs the former Portuguese colony in conjunction with the interim parliament.

He resigned late Wednesday after a heated debate within the council's ranks over the drafting of a constitution for an independent East Timor. "I feel, as president of the National Council, that any attempt to overcome the deadlock is in vain due to the lack of willingness by members of this body to advance the process," Gusmao said in a letter to the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor. "There have been numerous attempts to find ways to clarify and debate one of the most important moments in this process with the population: the constitution and how to draft it. "As I refuse to be part of a politically irresponsible process, I hereby tender my resignation." His spokeswoman said Thursday: "He could not play a part in such an irresponsible political process".

Gusmao's move did not jeopardize the August 30 date set for East Timor's first democratic elections, Goncalves said. "The plans for the elections are well underway and legislation has been approved, political parties are beginning to gear up," he said. "It's not going to interfere whatsoever with the electoral process."

East Timor voted amid a bloody pro-Jakarta militia rampage on August 30, 1999, to secede from Indonesia and to establish an independent state. UN peacekeepers were later deployed to restore order after the militas waged a brutal scorched-earth campaign aimed at terrorising East Timor's population of 800,000 into remaining loyal to Jakarta.