Civil Society Brief: Timor-Leste

Abstract

In 2006, Timor-Leste suffered a failure of state security and civil unrest resulting from internal divisions in the Timorese leadership and fragile political institutions. United Nations (UN) peacekeepers returned, and 150,000 people fled, becoming internally displaced. A 2008 assassination attempt on the President and Prime Minister again threatened the fragile state. Since 2008, the country has been relatively stable, and the UN peacekeeping mission ended in 2012. The July 2017 elections resulted in political deadlock, but elections in May 2018 went well. Timor-Leste has a quota system for women in the parliament. The Law on the Election of the National Parliament ensures women’s representation in politics with a requirement that one in every three candidates elected to parliament be a woman. Women won 22 of the 65 national parliamentary seats, making Timor-Leste the country with the highest percentage of women in parliament in Asia.