The directly elected president is a largely symbolic figure, with formal powers limited to the right to veto legislation and make certain appointments. The president may serve up to two five-year terms. Presidential elections were held in 2022, and a record 16 candidates competed in the first round. Former president José Ramos-Horta defeated the incumbent, Francisco Guterres of Fretilin, in the April 2022 runoff with 62.1 percent of the vote. Turnout stood at 77.3 percent in the first round and 75.2 percent in the second. Ramos-Horta was supported by Xanana Gusmão of the CNRT.

The leader of the majority party or coalition in Parliament becomes prime minister and serves as head of government. Xanana Gusmão, a former independence fighter, prime minister, and president, was sworn in as prime minister for a second time in July 2023. Gusmão replaced fellow independence fighter and former president José Maria Vasconcelos, popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak.

Members of the 65-seat, unicameral Parliament are directly elected by a single nationwide constituency and serve five-year terms. Members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system, and parties must receive 4 percent of the vote to receive a seat in Parliament.

The previous governing coalition, made up of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), Party for the Enhancement of Timorese National Unity (KHUNTO), and Fretilin, was formed in 2020. In parliamentary elections held in May 2023, CNRT won 42 percent of the vote, earning 31 of 65 seats in Parliament, while Fretilin won 26 percent and 19 seats. Since it did not win a majority, CNRT formed an alliance with the Democratic Party (PD), which won 6 seats, to form a government. KHUNTO won 5 seats, and the PLP won 4 seats.

Over 250 international election observers watched the polls. There were a few violent incidents during the campaign period, as well as issues with providing enough polling places, but despite this election observers from the Group of Seven Plus (g7+) found the elections to be transparent, well administered, safe, fair, and peaceful.

Provisions governing elections are found across several pieces of legislation, and some of the electoral framework is ambiguous in practice. In 2023, Parliament passed an amendment to the electoral law that would introduce voting by mail, braille ballots, and “parallel voting” centers that would accommodate voters living outside of the area where they registered to vote. However, President Ramos-Horta vetoed the amendment in March, citing issues with the implementation of parallel voting centers.

Political parties are generally free to operate. Campaign-finance regulations favor larger parties. There are no campaign spending caps, and government campaign subsidies are awarded after elections and based on the number of votes parties won.

New parties KHUNTO and PLP won 13 parliamentary seats between them in 2017 and formed a governing coalition with Fretilin in 2020. In 2023, 17 parties competed in parliamentary elections. The Greens of Timor Party (PVT) participated in parliamentary elections for the first time and won 3.6 percent of the vote, just short of the 4 percent threshold needed to enter Parliament.

Democratic transfers of power occur regularly in Timor-Leste.

While some smaller parties hold parliamentary seats, parties associated with the independence movement dominate. Fretilin, the CNRT, and the PLP have regularly participated in governments in recent years. Smaller parties like KHUNTO and the PD have been kingmakers—key to forming a government when none of the parties affiliated with the independence struggle have won an outright majority.

Politics continue to be dominated by independence-movement figures who have formed political parties. Veterans often serve as power brokers and organizers, while local village leaders are known to mobilize voters despite their ostensible nonpartisan status.

Martial-arts groups, some of which have been linked to rising violence, are known to influence politics. Groups are known to instruct their members to support particular parties, intimidate rival political factions, or form parties themselves.

Ethnic minorities are generally well represented in politics.

While male independence leaders often hold key political roles and dominate elite political circles, 37 percent of parliamentarians were women in mid-2023, due in part to an electoral quota. In June 2023, Maria Fernanda Lay of the CNRT was elected president of Parliament; she is the first woman to hold the position. Women remain underrepresented at the local level, where they account for five percent of village heads, and in the executive branch, where 16 to 21 percent of positions were filled by women in the last three governments. Observers suggest that few women would seek office in the absence of gender-parity legislation.

Elected officials generally determine government policy, though two governments have lost power over their inability to pass budgets in recent years. The Roman Catholic Church maintains significant influence.

The independent Anti-Corruption Commission (CAC) has no powers of arrest or prosecution, and instead relies on cooperation from the prosecutor general. However, there have been continual state efforts, with international support, to build the government’s anticorruption capacity. These include recent CAC investigations of government ministers and their staff following press reports of favoritism and abuse of power. The investigation into former minister of parliamentary affairs and media Francisco Jerónimo has led to indictments and arrests.

Despite attempts to make budgets more accessible, procurement processes remain largely opaque. Requests for public information are not always granted and may require applicants to undertake inconvenient travel. Information may be issued in Portuguese, which most Timorese do not speak. Anticorruption legislation adopted in 2020 includes an asset declaration system for civil servants, state agents, and their relatives.

While media freedom is constitutionally protected, domestic media outlets are vulnerable to political pressure and self-censorship due to the small media market with limited nongovernmental sources of support. However, journalists still produce articles critical of the government.

The government has not imprisoned journalists in connection with their reporting, and defamation was decriminalized in 2009. However, government officials have filed defamation claims against members of the media in recent years. Journalists reporting on allegations of abuse within the Roman Catholic Church have faced official scrutiny.

Timor-Leste is a secular state where freedom of religion is constitutionally protected. Some 97.6 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Religious tolerance is practiced, though Protestants and Muslims have reported some cases of discrimination and harassment.

Academic freedom is generally respected.

There are few constraints on private discussion, and citizens are free to discuss political and social issues. Topics related to the 2006 unrest remain sensitive.

While freedom of assembly is constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected in practice, some laws can be invoked to restrict peaceful gatherings. Demonstrations must be authorized in advance, and those deemed to be “questioning constitutional order” or disparaging the reputations of the head of state and other government officials are prohibited.

In November 2023, the government banned all martial-arts groups for six months in response to rising violence that was linked to some of the groups. The government does not allow police and military personnel to participate in martial-arts groups.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) generally operate without interference, although all registered NGOs receiving government or donor funds are under the oversight of the Ministry of Planning and Finance. Few NGOs operate outside of Dili. The government is generally receptive to NGO input.

Workers may form and join labor unions and bargain collectively, though a 2011 law requires written notification of demands and a response from employers in advance of striking. If employers do not respond or if an agreement is not reached within 20 days, then 5 days’ notice is required for a strike. In practice, few workers are unionized due to high unemployment and informal economic activity.

Despite improvements in recent years, concerns over judicial independence remain for politically sensitive cases. Political and religious interference in the judicial system has been reported.

Due process rights are often restricted or denied, due in part to case backlogs caused by a dearth of resources and personnel. There are only 35 judges covering the entire country. The use of Portuguese in court administration poses an obstacle, since most Timorese do not speak it, and shortages of interpreters have sometimes forced the adjournment of trials.

Many municipalities have no fixed courts and rely on mobile courts, which were established as an interim measure. Mobile court services were suspended from October 2022 to April 2023, but have resumed and increased their coverage since then, though they still do not cover all municipalities.

Alternative methods of dispute resolution and customary law are widely used, though they lack enforcement mechanisms and have other shortcomings, including gender discrimination. Plans for a hybrid justice system, with more harmonization between formal and customary dispute resolution mechanisms, have been announced.

Police officers and soldiers are regularly accused of excessive force and abuse of power, though the courts have had some success in prosecuting offenders. Public perception of the police has improved in recent years, as have general feelings of security.

While hate crimes based on sexual orientation are considered an aggravating circumstance in the penal code, other protections against discrimination for LGBT+ people are lacking. Gay men and transgender women have trouble accessing employment opportunities due to discrimination and low rates of access to education.

Equal rights for women are constitutionally guaranteed, but discrimination and gender inequality persist in practice and in customary law.

Members of religious minorities have reported issues with getting authorities to accept the marriage and birth certificates they received from their religious entities. Muslims have reported discrimination in civil service hiring.

Citizens generally enjoy unrestricted travel, though travel by land to the enclave of Oecusse is hampered by Indonesian and Timorese checkpoints. Individuals enjoy free choice of residence and employment, but unemployment rates are high, especially among youth, and most of the population relies on subsistence farming.

Timorese have the right to establish businesses but practical aspects of doing business are complicated by problems with issuing permits, enforcing contracts, and accessing credit.

Property rights are complicated by past conflicts, ongoing disagreements, and the unclear status of customary land rights. A national land law designed to establish formal rights and to help resolve disputes through arbitration was enacted in 2017.

Gender-based violence is widespread, particularly intimate partner violence targeting women. Civil society groups have criticized the courts’ use of prison sentences for only the most severe cases, and few reported cases are investigated. A lack of training hampers investigatory procedures, including investigators’ failure to recognize or collect evidence. In recent years, more training and financial support has been provided to the Timorese National Police’s Vulnerable Persons Units, which handle cases of gender-based violence.

While same-sex relationships are legal, same-sex marriages are not. LGBT+ individuals report cases of extreme physical violence from strangers and relatives, including cases of “corrective” rape and forced marriage. There are no government restrictions on dress or self-expression, but LGBT+ individuals experience societal pressure to align their dress with prevailing gender norms. An annual pride parade has been held since 2017, with support of the government.

Abortion is only legal in cases where continuing a pregnancy carries a serious health risk, and requires authorization from health professionals. Forcing an individual to have an abortion is a criminal offense.

Timor-Leste is a source and destination country for human trafficking. Timorese from rural areas are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, and children are sometimes placed in bonded labor.

Despite government efforts, including a 2017 antitrafficking law, investigations declined for several years. An increase in investigations beginning in 2021 led to the first trafficking convictions since 2018, but later investigations have not led to new prosecutions.