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Timor-Leste
Women in decision-making positions
4%
Members of local deliberative bodies are women (106 elected women)
No woman is Head of State or Government
40%
Parliamentarians are women
16%
Ministers are women

Government organization

Timor-Leste is a unitary republic with two spheres of government: central and local.

One tier of central government and three tiers of local government: municipalities and the special district of Oe-Cusse Ambeno, villages and sub-villages.
Central government
  • Head of State: The President of the Republic is directly elected by voters.
  • Head of Government: The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic, after the designation by the party/alliance of parties with parliamentary majority upon consultation with the political parties sitting in the National Parliament.
  • Legislative body: The National Parliament is a unicameral legislature whose members are directly elected by voters.
  • Executive body: The Council of Minister is composed of the Prime Minister, deputy prime ministers, and ministers. The deputy prime ministers and ministers are appointed by the President of the Republic on the proposal of the Prime Minister.
Local government

Organization: Local government is organized into three tiers, with an upper tier of 13 municipalities (municipios) and the special administrative region of Oe-Cusse Ambeno, a middle tier of 452 villages (sucos) and a lower tier of 2,233 sub-villages (aldeias).

Competencies: Local government is responsible for approving by-laws, resolutions and development plans, collecting revenues, and organizing the participation of citizens in solving the problems of their own community and promoting local development without prejudice to the participation of the State. Municipalities have competencies in a large range of domains such as the areas of economic development; social equipment; health; tourism; energy and external cooperation.

Ministerial oversight: Ministry of State Administration

Overview of local government

Local government composition
Municipal-level government (Municípios)

Deliberative body: the Municipal Assembly is composed of 13-19 directly-elected municipal deputies. A President is elected by and from the Municipal Assembly to preside over it. The President is not vested with executive powers.

Executive body: the Mayor is the executive of the Municipality. The Mayor is directly elected alongside a Vice-Mayor.

Village-level government (sucos)

Deliberative body: The village council is composed of the village chief, elected members (two delegates from each sub-village of the village), members elected by the village council (two youth representatives and an elder representative), and the chiefs of the sub-village of the village. The village chief is directly elected by the sub-village assemblies of the village to preside over the village council; the village chief is also vested with executive competencies.

Executive body: The village chief is the executive of the village level of government.

Sub-village-level government (aldeias)

Deliberative body: The sub-village assembly is composed of all citizens, over seventeen years old, enrolled in the voter registration system, as an assemblage of direct democracy on the sub-village level of government. The sub-village chief is elected by the sub-village assembly to preside over it; the sub-village chief is also vested with executive competencies.

Executive body: The sub-village chief is the executive of the sub-village level of government.

Local government elections
Electoral system

Electoral system for municipal assemblies: proportional representation (closed list)

  • The election of municipal deputies is carried out according to the method of proportional representation corresponding to the highest average of Hondt with a 4% threshold. Within each list of municipal deputies, the mandates are given to candidates in the order of precedence, indicated in the order of candidacy.

Electoral system for village councils: majority/plurality (first-past-the-post)

  • Village council delegates are directly elected by the sub-village assembly members of the village. Ballot papers contain the names of the candidates, divided into two columns, one of the female candidates and another of the other candidates alphabetically ordered. The female and the male candidates who obtain the highest number of valid votes are elected.
  • The two youth representatives are elected by the village councils. The candidates of each sex who obtain the highest number of valid votes are elected.

Electoral system for mayors, village and sub-village chiefs: majority/plurality (two-round system)

  • The Mayor and the Vice-Mayor are elected jointly. The binominal list who has obtained more than half of the validly cast votes, excluding blank votes, is elected Mayor. If none of the candidates obtains more than half of the validly cast votes, a second voting takes place, in which only the two most voted lists that have not withdrawn the candidacy participate.
  • The village chief is directly elected by the members of the sub-village assemblies within the village simultaneously. The candidate who has obtained more than half of the votes validly cast is elected. If none of the candidates obtains this number of votes, a second voting takes place with only the two most voted for candidates.
  • The sub-village chief is directly elected by the members of the sub-village assembly. The candidate who has obtained more than half of the votes validly cast is elected. If none of the candidates obtains this number of votes, a second voting takes place with only the two most voted for candidates.

Sources: Sucos Law, 2016, article 41, 50 and 71; Municipal Electoral Law, articles 25, 26 and 37

Quotas

Gender quotas: Candidate quota with ranking/placement rule, sanctions (for municipalities); Reserved seats (for village councils)

  • Lists for municipal assembly elections must be composed of no less than one woman in each set of three candidates, under penalty of rejection.
  • In the village council, one of the two delegates elected from each sub-village of the village must be a woman.
  • One of the two youth representatives must be a woman. Youth representatives are elected by the village council its first meeting.
  • For the village chief election, there must be at least two candidacies, one of which is a woman.
  • For the sub-village chief election, there must be at least two candidacies, one of which is a woman. The polling station rejects candidacies that do not comply with this quota.

Additional quotas: Youth, elders (lian-na'in)

  • Each village council is composed of two youth representatives.
  • Each village council is composed of one elder member elected by the members of the village council at its first meeting. The election of the elder member takes place according to the tradition, uses, or customs of the lian-na'in.

Sources: Sucos Law, 2016, articles 10, 34, 37, 44, 55 and 65; Municipal Electoral Law, article 13

Term of elections
  • Term length: 5 years for municipalities; 7 years for villages and sub-villages
  • Last local elections: 2016 (villages)
  • Next local elections: 2023 (villages)
Electoral management body

National Elections Commission of Timor-Leste

National legal framework on local government
National legal framework
  • Constitution of the Democratic Republic of East Timor/Timor-Leste, 2002;
  • Law No. 9/2016: Sucos Law, 2016;
  • Law No. 11/2009: Administrative Division of the Territory, 2009 (amended through 2016).
Constitutional provisions on local government

There are constitutional provisions that establish local government in Timor-Leste. According to Article 72.1 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste of 2002, “local government is constituted by corporate bodies endowed with representative organs, with the objective of organizing the participation by citizens in solving the problems of their own community and promoting local development without prejudice to the participation by the State.”

Legislative provisions on local government

The National Assembly is responsible for establishing the national legal framework on local government. The key pieces of legislation that regulate local government are the Sucos Law of 2016 and the law of Locas Power and Adminsitrative decentralization of 2021, which establish the rules of organization, competences, and functioning of the municipality, suco and aldeia.

Sources:

1. UN Women: Data on share of women in local government as of 1 January 2023.

2. UN Women: Information on Head of State and Government as of 3 October 2023.

3. Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU): Data on share of women in the single/lower chamber of parliament as of 1 January 2023.

4. IPU and UN Women: Data on share of women in ministerial positions as of 1 January 2023.

5. Information on local government organization as of 1 January 2022.