Former guerrilla and defence chief Taur Matan Ruak has won East Timor's run-off presidential vote, preliminary results showed on Tuesday.

Ruak won 275,441 votes, or 61.23 percent, while Francisco Guterres, known as "Lu Olo", took 174,386, or 38.77 percent, according to a count announced by the elections secretariat, which organised the polls.