With no party receiving a majority of the vote, a coalition government became necessary. Shortly after the election, a CNRT spokesman said that the party was discussing the possibility of forming a coalition with the ASDT-PSD and the Democratic Party. FRETILIN secretary-general Mari Alkatiri also said his party was engaged in coalition talks, but said there was no possibility of the party forming a coalition with the CNRT. PSD leader Mario Viegas Carrascalao said that an alliance of his party with the CNRT would be "natural", but that the presence of a breakaway faction of FRETILIN in the CNRT was "unacceptable". Democratic Party leader Fernando "Lasama" de Araújo said that his party could form a coalition with the CNRT, as there were "no big differences" between it and Gusmão, but also said that there should be a government of national unity including all parties elected to parliament; he argued that it would be harmful to exclude anyone due to what he described as deep differences already existing in the country. President José Ramos-Horta also mentioned the possibility of a national unity government, but Alkatiri, reiterating that a coalition including both FRETILIN and the CNRT was out of the question, said that it would be better for democracy for there to be a strong opposition.