The Four Powers of the State

Timor-Leste is a constitutional Republic with four sovereign institutions: the Presidency, the Parliament, the Government (executive) and the Judiciary. Both President and the parliament are elected directly by the people through a general election every five years. The Prime Minister is the head of Government and presides over the Cabinet. The President is head of State, but a semi-symbolic figure, having a limited number of powers to act as a check and balance on executive power. The President has a veto over legislation that can be overridden by an absolute majority of the parliament or by two thirds of those present, depending on the subject matter. The President also has a number of appointment powers, the most important of which are subject to the wish of the parliamentary majority or the Prime Minister (PM). The PM is nominated by the political party or alliance of parties with the parliamentary majority and appointed by the President. The Cabinet is designated by the PM and appointed by the President. The President also has the power to declare a state of emergency with the authorisation of parliament. Parliament has the power to take a vote of no confidence in the government and to dismiss the Cabinet.

Local Administrative Divisions

The country is divided into 13 districts, 65 sub-districts, and 442 sucos (group of villages).

The Coming Elections

The presidential and parliamentary elections of this year are the first national elections held since independence on 20 May 2002. By law they have to be held separately.

The Parliamentary elections will be held on 30 June 2007. The electoral system is proportional representation, from one national constituency. Only registered political parties or alliances may present candidate lists, although candidates on a party’s list do not have to belong to that party. This gives some scope for independent candidates to stand, as long as they can join onto a party’s list. All lists must contain one woman every group of four candidates, a new requirement. In the current parliament, women won 22 of the 88 seats without a mandatory quota in place. The parliament is unicameral.

There is a 3% threshold in place for the first time, so that a party may not take up any seats unless it wins at least 3% of the vote. If this threshold had applied to the 2001 elections, eight of the parties currently in parliament would not have won any seats. The d’Hondt highest average formula is used for parliamentary seat allocation. The parliamentary campaign period is 30 days long, followed by a two day silence period.

Previous Elections

August 1999: the referendum on independence from Indonesia, conducted by the UN. 78% of the population voted in favour. Following a period of very severe violence, the UN took over the administration of the country, until independence.

September 2001: elections for a constituent assembly were held under UN supervision. 88 seats were elected, 55 going to FRETILIN, 19 to the three larger opposition parties (PD, PSD and ASDT), and the remainder to small parties and one independent candidate. Under the terms of the new Constitution, the constituent assembly members automatically became members of the first parliament after independence. In the coming parliamentary elections, 65 deputies will be elected and 25 reserves ( suplentes).

April 2002: elections for the president were held under UN supervision. Two candidates stood, Xanana Gusmão and Xavier do Amaral. Gusmão won 82% of the vote.

December 2004 – September 2005: suco elections. These local elections were for village and hamlet chiefs.