Parliamentary elections were held in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

on 21 May 2023. The governing coalition going into the election was a four-party government of

Fretilin The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor ( pt, Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a centre-left political party in East Timor. They presently hold 23 of 65 seats in the National Parliame ...

– PLP– KHUNTO– PD, whilst CNRT was in opposition and held the executive branch.

Background

Initially, after the 2018 East Timorese parliamentary election, the VIII Constitutional Government was drawn from and supported by a coalition known as the

Alliance for Change and Progress The Alliance for Change and Progress (AMP) (, ) was a three-party alliance in East Timor. Until 1 February 2018, the alliance was called Parliamentary Majority Alliance (, ). The motto of the coalition was "Hametuk Hametin Nasaun" (English: Stre ...

(AMP), which was made up of the

National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction The National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction ( pt, Congresso Nacional de Reconstrução de Timor, CNRT) is a political party in East Timor founded by former President Xanana Gusmão in March 2007 in preparation for the 2007 parliamentary ...

(CNRT), the

People's Liberation Party The People's Liberation Party ( tr, Halkın Kurtuluş Partisi, HKP) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. The HKP is based strongly around Hikmet Kıvılcımlı's ideas and philosophy. The party was established on 15 June 2005, the 3 ...

(PLP) and

Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan (, KHUNTO) is a political party in East Timor. History KHUNTO was officially registered on 22 June 2011 and is affiliated with the martial arts group ''Korka''. In the 2012 parliamentary elections it re ...

(KHUNTO).

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri of Fretilin had to hand over his office to Taur Matan Ruak of the PLP. However, a large number of the candidates nominated by the CNRT for government posts were refused appointment by President Francisco Guterres (FRETILIN), as he considered them unsuitable for various reasons. Taur Matan Ruak managed to form a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

anyway by having the vacant positions of the missing CNRT members co-administered by other government members. In the National Parliament, the AMP denied the opposition parties Fretilin and Partido Democrático (PD) adequate participation in the presidium and in the management of the committees, which led to further conflicts. 2020-06-27 Taur Matan Ruak 1

In 2020, CNRT MPs increasingly blamed Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak for the fact that most of the CNRT ministers were still not in office after 18 months. On 17 January, the government's budget proposal failed because CNRT MPs abstained. Taur Matan Ruak therefore declared the end of the AMP, but President Guterres asked him to continue leading the government for the time being. On 22 February, CNRT, KHUNTO, PD,

Timorese Democratic Union The Timorese Democratic Union ( pt, União Democrática Timorense, UDT) is a conservative political party in East Timor. It was the first party to be established in the country on May 11, 1974, following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. ...

(UDT),

Frenti-Mudança The Front for National Reconstruction of Timor-Leste – Change (, Frenti–Mudança) is a political party in East Timor led by Vice-Prime minister José Luís Guterres.United Party for Development and Democracy (PUDD) signed a coalition agreement to form a new government. However, Guterres again did not accept Taur Matan Ruak's request to resign two days later and instead asked him to continue leading the transitional government. With the outbreak of the

COVID-19 pandemic in East Timor The COVID-19 pandemic in East Timor is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached East Timor in March 2020. ...

at the end of March, another crisis hit the country. KHUNTO then declared that it would now support Taur Matan Ruak again, and he withdrew his request for resignation on 8 April. The proposal of the Six Party Alliance to appoint Gusmão as Prime Minister was not answered by President Guterres. On 27 April, the coalition lost a vote in parliament on the state of emergency over COVID-19, as PLP, KHUNTO, and Fretilin voted unanimously. This was the end of the coalition, and the VIII government now included Fretilin representatives in the cabinet, as well as Júlio Sarmento da Costa of the PD, who now also supported the government. Parliamentary Speaker Arão Noé da Costa Amaral of the CNRT was replaced by

Aniceto Guterres Lopes Aniceto Guterres Lopes (born April 16, 1967 in Tapo, East Timor) is an East Timorese politician and human rights lawyer. Early life On December 7, 1975, Lopes and his family fled the country to Builalu, Indonesia to escape from the Indonesian ...

of Fretilin and the committee boards were reconstituted, now excluding the CNRT. Following the breakdown of the AMP coalition during the first few months of 2020, a new governing coalition took place in the form of four-party government of

– PLP– KHUNTO– PD on 12 May 2020, new officials were appointed on 29 May and 24 June 2020. Presidential elections were held on 19 March 2022. Incumbent

Francisco Guterres Francisco Guterres, popularly known as Lú-Olo (born 7 September 1954), is an East Timorese politician who served as president of East Timor from 20 May 2017 to 20 May 2022. He is also the president of the political party Fretilin, and he was t ...

sought election to a second term. As none of the presidential nominees received at least 50% of the cast votes, a

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

was held on 19 April 2022, between the top two candidates,

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician currently serving as president of East Timor since May 2022. He previously served as president from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Minister of Fore ...

and Guterres. Ramos-Horta won the runoff with 62.1% of the total votes cast. The election marked the first time that someone had been re-elected to the East Timorese presidency (albeit to a non-consecutive term), as well as the second time that an incumbent president had been defeated – after the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

election, when Ramos-Horta was eliminated in the first round. Former President José Ramos-Horta came out of retirement as he stated that incumbent president Francisco "Lú-Olo" Guterres had violated the constitution. Guterres had previously refused to swear in several ministers from Ramos-Horta's party on the grounds that they were currently undergoing legal investigations over corruption. Ramos-Horta stated that in the event of winning the presidential election, he would potentially dissolve parliament and call for new elections. Ramos-Horta, who always sought a balance between the political parties in his speeches, remained vague in his comments on his post-election plans. Ramos-Horta ran on a platform of poverty reduction, increasing healthcare services for mothers and children, as well as increasing job creation. He also stated that he wanted to try and improve communication across the governing political parties for the purposes of increasing stability. In addition, Ramos-Horta stated his intention on working with the government to address supply chain issues from the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and

war in Ukraine The following is a list of major conflicts fought by Ukraine, by Ukrainian people or by regular armies during periods when independent states existed on the modern territory of Ukraine, from the Kyivan Rus' times to the present day. It also i ...

. After his victory over incumbent Guterres, Ramos-Horta declared that he would support the VIII government until the end of its mandate. In November 2022, Ramos-Horta had initially set the regular new elections for parliament for 20 February 2023. But a discussion then broke out about the exact timing and convenience of the election date.''Governo timorense diz estar pronto para organizar legislativas, seja qual for a data''
LUSA, 24 January 2023. Retrieved on 29 January 2023. Finally, President Ramos-Horta announced 21 May as the election date. This would allow the final results to be announced in June and the new parliament to take office at the same time as the parliamentarians for the 2018 legislature which then on was 12 June (the new government was sworn in on 21 June). In addition, the 2024 national budget could be passed in time, which would avoid various problems, and the ASEAN summit will be held in September to admit East Timor as an official member. Fretilin had proposed a date in the second half of the year.

Electoral system

2023-05-20 Preparation for election in Liquica

The 65 members of the National Parliament were elected from a single nationwide constituency by

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. Parties were required to have a woman in at least every third position in their list. Seats were allocated using the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

with an electoral threshold of four percent and with the last seat, in the case of several equal maximum numbers, being awarded to the party with the fewest votes. In order to jump the four per cent hurdle (about 26,000 voters), parties can form electoral alliances. Voters who have cast their ballot are marked on their finger with a purple, non-washable ink to prevent double voting. The 10,000 bottles of ink were purchased through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for $394,000. The Secretáriado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral (STAE) provides a total of 1,472 polling centres and 1,850 polling stations in the country. There are 890,145 people registered on the electoral rolls, 11,800 of whom are abroad. Polling stations are therefore also being prepared in Australia (Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney), Portugal (Lisbon, Porto and Beja), South Korea (Gwangju and Seoul) and the United Kingdom (Crewe, Dungannon, Peterborough and Oxford). About 20,000 people are working to conduct the election on polling day. Voters had to cast their ballots in their home municipality, which meant that many residents of the capital

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

had to travel to their homes on election day. Following experience in the last presidential elections, a voting centre is now to be opened in Dili for each East Timorese

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the parliamentary elections as well, in order to save voters the trip. The Secretáriado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral (STAE) plans to provide a total of 1500 polling centres and 1880 polling stations in the country. On 14 March, President Ramos-Horta vetoed a number of amendments to the electoral law. In his letter to MPs in parliament, he supported the planned introduction of

postal voting Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by Mail, post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling place, polling station or electronically via an electronic voti ...

and documents in

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

, but rejected the parallel polling stations for voters who cannot travel to their home town to vote. These had been introduced for the first time in the last presidential elections and were now to be extended. Ramos-Horta explained that the necessary mechanisms and registers would be lacking to prevent double voting. He also criticised the planned direct forwarding of the counting data to the National Electoral Commission (CNE), although the constitution requires a listing first at the ballot box and then at the municipal level. Moreover, the new electoral law does not mention the new municipality of Atauro, which is why there is no polling station on the island at all. Parliament now had to decide on the amendments requested by the head of state. On 20 March, by 37 votes to 22 (with two abstentions), parliament sent the law back to Ramos-Horta unchanged. If the new law is passed again, the president is obliged to sign it into law.

Parties and alliances

Parties could register their participation in the election until 15 March 2023. The election campaign begins on 19 April. In 2018, East Timor's Supreme Court (Tribunal de Recurso) revoked the eligibility of the seven parties ASDT, KOTA,

PDL PDL is an initialism for: Politics *Democratic Liberal Party (Romania), Democratic Liberal Party (''Partidul Democrat Liberal''), a former political party in Romania *Labour Democratic Party (''Partito Democratico del Lavoro''), a former politi ...

PUN A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...

, PARENTIL, PNT and PTT, leaving the CNE to list 24 recognised political parties in East Timor on 15 February. This includes the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

(PVT), which was registered in 2022. However, the tribunal also found the

Millennium Democratic Party The Democratic Party (; DP) was a political party in South Korea. Formerly named Millennium Democratic Party (; MDP), it was renamed in May 6, 2005. After its dissolution, its members joined the Uri Party or the successor Democratic Party. Hi ...

(PMD), the Democratic Republic of Timor Party (PDRT), the People's Party of Development (PDP) and the Timorese Democratic Party (PTD) ineligible to contest the 2023 general elections due to a lack of legal requirements. At the end of January, the Democratic Alliance (AD) was founded by the

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

(AND), PDP and People's Freedom Party of Aileba(PLPA). The official recognition of the AND as a political party at the Tribunal has not yet been completed. On 4 March, four parties formed an electoral alliance. The Broad Democratic Front (FAD) includes the UDT and the FM as well as the two parties not represented in parliament,

Timorese Social Democratic Action Center The ''Centro Acção Social-Democrata Timorense'' (), abbreviated as Centro ASDT or CASDT is a political party in Timor-Leste. Founded by its late first party president Gil da Costa A.N. Alves, he was the former Secretary General of the '' Assoc ...

(CASDT) and National Development Party (PDN). Another coalition was announced by the PDRT and the Timorese People's Monarchist Association (APMT). 2023-03-29 Ziehung der Reihenfolge auf dem Stimmzettel

2023-03-29 Ziehung der Reihenfolge auf dem Stimmzettel

On 13 March, the CNE confirmed the notification of the three coalitions, but the tribunal rejected all three alliances. The PDP from the Democratic Alliance and the PDRT would both have failed to meet the legal requirements as electable parties, making their party alliances obsolete. The AND had not yet gained recognition as a party anyway. In the case of the FAD, the PDN had withdrawn from the alliance on 14 March and filed an election petition as an individual party. The tribunal found that in the case of the PDN, no congress or national conference had confirmed cooperation with the other parties, which meant that the entire FAD did not receive registration. The remaining partners of the various alliances still had the option of filing for election individually. By the deadline of 15 March, a total of 18 parties had submitted their electoral lists. Due to the internal party dispute in the

Frenti-Mudança The Front for National Reconstruction of Timor-Leste – Change (, Frenti–Mudança) is a political party in East Timor led by Vice-Prime minister José Luís Guterres.Ricardo Cardoso Nheu and his predecessor Egídio de Jesus. Following the incidents surrounding the admission of electoral alliances and the question of which parties should be allowed to contest at all, both the tribunal and the CNE demanded that the future legislature clarify its jurisdiction over the decision to admit parties and electoral alliances, as this is where the court and the electoral authority come into conflict. On 25 March, the tribunal ruled that 17 parties could contest the election. The Frenti-Mudança was refused admission to the election. There was no clarification as to which of the two lists represented the party and an attempt at conciliation between the two groups failed. The official list was published in the Jornal da República on 29 March. On 15 April, leaders of the ruling parties Fretilin, PLP and KHUNTO signed an agreement to form a joint government alliance after the elections. The PLPA and the AND concluded a "strategic agreement" which, if entered into parliament, would last for the entire legislative period until 2028. AND members were included in the PLPA's electoral list. Jorge da Conceição Teme, leader of the AND, heads the electoral list.

Campaign

The election campaign officially began on 19 April and will run until 18 May. José Agostinho da Costa Belo, the president of the CNE, called on the parties to suspend campaigning on 20 April because a

total solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

will take place in East Timor on that day. He said the eclipse should not affect the election campaign. In advance, the Matadalan Research Institute released the results of a survey it conducted among 400 people in all parts of the country between 24 March and 3 April. Voters in the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

were not included in the survey. According to the results, 49% of the respondents supported the CNRT. 25% would vote for FRETILIN, 5.5% for PD and 5.25% for KHUNTO. Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak's PLP would fail the four-percent hurdle with 3.5%. The Greens would get 1% and all other parties together 7.75%. However, the margin of error in the poll is 5%. When asked who should be prime minister, 60.25% said Xanana Gusmão (CNRT), 19% Marí Alkatiri (FRETILIN) and 6.25% Taur Matan Ruak. 6% wanted

Mariano Sabino Lopes Mariano Sabino Lopes (born 12 April 1975), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' , is an East Timorese politician and a member of the Democratic Party (East Timor), Democratic Party (PD). He is the more junior of East Timor's two incumbent Deputy ...

(PD) and 2.75%

Armanda Berta dos Santos Armanda Berta dos Santos (born 11 October 1974) is an East Timorese politician, and the leader of the Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan (KHUNTO) political party. She is the more senior of East Timor's two incumbent Deputy Prime Ministers ...

(KHUNTO). When asked about possible coalitions, 27.75% wanted an alliance between CNRT and PD and only 17.75% wanted the current coalition of Fretilin, PLP and KHUNTO. 12% wanted a coalition of CNRT, Fretilin and PD and 8.25% wanted one of CNRT, PD and PLP. 2023-04-20 KHUNTO

For almost all major parties, most respondents said they had made their decision based on the party's programme or vision. In the case of KHUNTO, however, 30% of their supporters said they had chosen them because of family ties to their party leadership. When asked who they would like to see as prime minister, Gusmão can attribute his support to his personal background and work, while for the other politicians the reason is the party behind them. The most important issues for respondents are infrastructure development (43%), job creation (22.75%) and education (14%). In mid-April, Abel de Conceição, the administrator of the municipality of Aileu, had

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

officers break up a public debate on "Building a new just and solidary society" at the Uma Dame Peace Centre in

Aileu Aileu is the main township in Aileu District, East Timor. It is located 47 km (29 mi) southwest of Dili, the national capital, and had a population of 2,788 in 2015. In Portuguese Timor, the city was known as Vila General Carmona, af ...

. The event, where representatives of different political forces were to discuss, had been organised by the Youth Movement of the Municipality of Aileu (MJMA). Conceição justified the dissolution with the given period of the election campaign and that debates between the parties could only be organised by the electoral bodies. President Ramos-Horta criticised the action and stressed the constitutional right to organise events and express their views on political issues. When asked by Virgílio da Silva Guterres, the ombudsman of the Provedoria dos Direitos Humanos e Justiça (PDHJ), Conceição expressed regret that he had not wanted to restrict citizens' rights, but only to implement the guidelines of the CNE and STAE. Guterres stressed that this was not the responsibility of the municipal administration, but of the CNE, and Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, Conceição's predecessor as Minister of State Administration, also stated that the municipal administrator had neither the power to decide on the authorisation of such events, nor could he give instructions to the police. 2023-05-16 FRETILIN political campaign

The CNRT rejected FRETILIN's proposal of two debates during the election campaign between Alkatiri and Gusmão, as the proposed topics were not considered appropriate. The topics were the agreement on the maritime dispute and border with Australia. that Gusmão had negotiated and the Haksolok ferry construction affair. The CNRT is held partly responsible for the fact that the ferry is not in East Timor after years following the bankruptcy of the Portuguese shipyard. In the vote on the border treaty, Alkatiri had FRETILIN vote against it in parliament, which he is accused of betraying. However, Alkatiri sees mistakes in the treaty and wanted to confront Gusmão with them. Likewise with mistakes in politics, of which Gusmão would pretend that he had never led the government in the last 15 years. On 27 April, riots broke out between supporters of different parties in Daco Ate (Suco Afaloicai) during the election campaign. Seven houses were damaged and 16 people injured, two of whom had to be treated after throwing stones in

Viqueque Viqueque (, ) is a city in the south-east of East Timor, 183 km from Dili, the national capital. Viqueque is the capital of Viqueque Municipality Viqueque (, ) is the largest of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Ti ...

. Police and soldiers restored peace and order and were able to identify two suspects. 2023-05-05 Police at PUDD rally

After a KHUNTO election rally in Dili, KHUNTO activists were attacked by unknown persons on 12 May. Four were seriously injured and had to be treated in hospital. Police were unable to identify any of the attackers. On 15 May, President Ramos-Horta criticised parties that work with martial arts groups in an interview. These parties and their "unscrupulous leaders" would manipulate youth and turn martial arts into a political tool. Ramos-Horta hinted that he might not approve a cabinet that includes such parties. The head of state emphasised that martial arts itself and the connection of some groups to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

were not the problem. Ramos-Horta explained that he would be concerned if such a party were to head the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, for example, in a coalition, with a budget of $100 million; a direct reference to the current government. Deputy Interior Minister Antonino Armindo belongs to KHUNTO, which is closely linked to the martial arts organisation Korka. In addition to KHUNTO, the Greens also have close links with a martial arts group, the 7-7. At both parties, members of the martial arts groups and their leaders appear and display symbols and hand gestures of the groups. The non-governmental organisation ''Fundasaun Mahein'' has already warned of an increasing politicisation of the martial arts groups in the country. It also said these groups were infiltrating various state institutions, which "could contribute to more violence and socio-political instability". Ramos-Horta called on the population not to vote for such parties.

Results

Polling stations were open from 7:00 to 15:00. Overseas polling stations voted at the same time, so that people could vote earlier in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and last in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. More than 250 international election observers travelled to East Timor. They came from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, the

Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...

, the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

and the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

, among others. Ten embassies had registered observers with the STAE. In addition, there were representatives from various non-governmental organisations, the G7+ countries and others. The largest delegation is the Australian one with 60 participants. The US one consists of 35, the Japanese one of 12, the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

one of 11 and the European one of 8. The ''Timorese Bishops' Conference'', the ''National Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission'' (JPIC) and the ''Church Organisation for Social Affairs'' (OIPAS) provide 2000 national election observers. They are supported by the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

(USAID), the

International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...

(IRI) and

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

(CRS). Polling station staff were the first to be allowed to cast their votes. This included security personnel, who were then required to stay 25 metres away from the polling station while casting their votes. No significant incidents were reported by the evening. 2023 Ballot Timor-Leste

Voter turnout fell slightly to 79.3% from 80.98% in 2018, though it has to be noted that the number of registered voters and overall total votes cast rose from 2018 due to the country's growing population. President Ramos-Horta said he would invite the strongest party (the CNRT) to talks on forming a government. Again, Ramos-Horta stressed that he would not accept any coalition partner. The provisional result showed a clear victory for the CNRT, which resulted in a likely majority in the National Parliament together with the PD. The platform of the old ruling parties, Fretilin, KHUNTO and PLP, will probably only get 28 of the 65 seats, less than the CNRT alone, thus failed to unite the majority of seats. The Greens narrowly failed to clear the four-percent hurdle, followed by the PUDD. All other parties got less than one per cent of the vote each. The Fretilin was only the strongest party in its strongholds of Lautém,

and

Baucau Baucau ( pt, Baucau, tet, Baukau) is the second-largest city in East Timor, after Dili, the capital, which lies to its west. Baucau has about 16,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of Baucau municipality, located in the eastern part of the ...

. Otherwise, the CNRT was always ahead, even in polling stations abroad. In the municipality of

Ermera Ermera (''Vila Ermera'') is a city in East Timor and a former capital of the East Timorese community, Ermera. ''Ermera'' in Mambai means "red water." It has a population of 8,907. Its geographical coordinates are , and it lies above sea l ...

, the CNRT even received an absolute majority of 51.05% of the votes. This is the worst result ever for Fretilin. The final result is to be presented by the STAE by 27 May. The Supreme Court will then officially announce the result and the

Jornal da República ''Jornal da República'' () is the government gazette of East Timor. The Journal is published by the Ministry of Justice. It was first published on 20 May 2002, the day East Timor resumed its independence. The first issue promulgated the Pre ...

will publish it by 7 June. The new parliament is expected to meet for the first time on 12 June. It is generally expected that Xanana Gusmão will be re-elected Prime Minister and the formation of a coalition government with the PD being expected. On 5 June the results were made final by the President of the East Timorese Court of Appeal Deolindo dos Santos.

Aftermath

The observers from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries attested that "under the specific conditions observed, the entire electoral process was reliable and credible, and gave no cause for complaint that could compromise the transparency and integrity of the electoral process". The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

congratulated East Timor for "free, fair and transparent" elections that were "an inspiration to democracy worldwide". On 23 May, in his first public reaction after the completion of the vote count by the STAE, Xanana Gusmão said that the vote reflects the population’s fatigue and calls for implementing the need for change. Without wanting to confirm whether he will be prime minister, he did admit that he is waiting for the official certification of the results before moving forward with party alliances and forming the next government. He stated that the next government will be one of "consolidation of the State and the institutions". Gusmão also thanked the population for their maturity and peaceful behavior during the voting process. Within Fretilin, voices were raised calling for the resignation of the party leadership after this "humiliating" defeat. José Agostinho Sequeira declared that Alkatiri and Guterres were no longer alternatives. Sequeira had failed as a candidate for the party presidency at a party congress in September 2022. The internal opponents of the party leadership included, among others,

Rui Maria de Araújo Rui Maria de Araújo (born 21 May 1964) is an East Timorese politician who served as its prime minister from 2015 to 2017. He is a physician and member of Fretilin. He was Minister of Health from 2001 to 2006 and Deputy Prime Minister from 20 ...

, Osório Florindo, and Luís Maria Lobato.

Lere Anan Timur Lieutenant General (Ret.) Lere Anan Timur is a Timorese general who has served as Commander of the F-FDTL since 6 October 2011 to 28 January 2022. Background He was born in an aristocratic family in Iliomar II at Lautem, and is the eldest o ...

was also present at a meeting of the inner-party opposition. The former general had run against his party colleague Guterres in the last presidential election, but presented himself as a member of a leadership troika with Alkatiri and Guterres during the parliamentary election. The outgoing government is said to have suffered as a result of the electorate's dissatisfaction with the instability of its member parties, which were held responsible for disrupting the functioning of the institutions in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. After acknowledging the results,

Fidelis Leite Magalhães Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães is an East Timorese political economist, public policy specialist and politician, and a member of the People's Liberation Party (PLP). From May 2020 to July 2023, he was the President of the Council of Minister ...

, Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, said the previous government would work with the future one to ensure a "dignified and quality transition". However, the date of the inauguration of the new MPs had to be set by Speaker Lopes and after the elections there were demands from the old governing parties to postpone the date to September. According to them, the current legislative period would last that long. In the meantime, the old government used the time after the elections to discuss new laws. President Ramos-Horta insisted on being sworn in within two weeks of the election, in accordance with the constitution. The Supreme Court confirmed the results of the elections on 5 June as the last formal step for their validity. The next day, after a meeting lasting more than two and a half hours, the leaders of the parliamentary groups agreed on 22 June as the date for the inauguration. This would be in accordance with the parliament's rules of procedure, which stipulate the 15th day after the Supreme Court has confirmed the election as the latest date. The decision of 5 June was only published in the

the following day, so the latest date was 21 June. The CNRT had accepted this interpretation as a compromise, as the old ruling parties continued to insist on a September date for the transfer of power. The election of the President of Parliament will take place on 23 June and the election of the rest of the presidency on 26 June. On 5 June, it was announced that the CNRT and the Democratic Party had come to an agreement on a governing coalition. During the announcement, CNRT secretary-general Fransisco Kalbuadi Lay revealed that Xanana Gusmão would be the coalition's prime ministerial choice. On 7 June, the VIII Constitutional Government met for the last time. President Ramos-Horta met semi-officially with CNRT and PD representatives on 9 June to discuss the timetable for forming the new IX Constitutional Government. On 29 June, the President of the Republic is to receive the Prime Minister-designate and the following day sign the decree appointing the new government, which will then be sworn in on 1 July. Ramos-Horta demanded that not all government employees who belong to another party be dismissed. In the past, this had even included and affected cleaners and cleaning staff of the government. On 22 June as scheduled the new parliament was sworn in. During its first plenary session it elected CNRT's Maria Fernanda Lay as house speaker, the first female house speaker in East Timorese history. Later on 26 June CNRT's Maria Teresinha Veigas and PD's Alexandrino Afonso Nunez were elected deputy house speakers. On 29 June the party president and secretary of both the CNRT and PD presented the list of members of the new government to President Jose Ramos Horta ahead of the scheduled transfer of power from the previous government. The new government composition are as follows; Gusmão as prime minister, Kalbuadi Lay and PD leader Sabino Lopez as deputy prime ministers and a further 22 ministry. Of these ministries 17 went to the CNRT, 3 to the PD, and 2 taken up by independent figures. On 1 July the new government was sworn in during an official ceremony attended by delegations from ASEAN countries on the grounds of the presidential palace, in his speech during the ceremony president Ramos-Horta urge the new government to make Timor Leste's ascension into ASEAN a top priority. Gusmão in his speech at the ceremony call on his ministers to carry out their duties accordingly adding that those who doesn't perform will be replaced.

References

Bibliography

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Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

Elections in East Timor Election and referendum articles with incomplete results