 One of his first decrees made upon his arrival in Dili was to legalise political parties in preparation for elections to a Constituent Assembly in 1976.In August 1975, one of those political parties, the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) staged a coup against the Portuguese administration, prompting the outbreak of a three-month civil war, with many UDT politicians and supporters fleeing across the border to West Timor in Indonesia, where they were required to sign a petition calling for East Timor's incorporation into Indonesia.As a result of the conflict, Lemos Pires ordered the withdrawal of the Portuguese administration to the island of Atauro, off Dili.