The
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
of
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-west ...
entered into force on 20 May 2002, and was the country's first constitution after it gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and from Indonesia, which invaded East Timor on 7 December 1975 and left in 1999 following a UN-sponsored referendum.
History
The Constitution was drafted by the
Constituent Assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
elected for this purpose
in 2001. Pursuant to an
UNTAET
The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), ( pt, Administração Transitória das Nações Unidas em Timor Leste), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades long East Timorese cri ...
regulation,
the constitution did not need support in a referendum, but entered into force on the day of independence of East Timor after it was approved by the assembly.
There are two versions of the Constitution, one in each of the country's official languages,
Tetum
, nativename=Tetun
, states= Indonesia East Timor
, speakers=, mostly in Indonesia
, date=2010–2011
, ref=e18
, speakers2=50,000 L2-speakers in Indonesia and East Timor
, familycolor=Austronesian
, fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
, fam3= Central–East ...
and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
.
The Constitution consists of seven parts, namely:
* I. Fundamental principles
* II. Fundamental rights, duties, liberties and guarantees
* III. Organisation of political power (including the provisions about the three branches of government)
* IV. Economic and financial organisation
* V. National defence and security
* VI. Guarantee and revision of the Constitution
* VII. Final and transitional provisions
References
External links
* Text of the Constitution in English:
*
http://timor-leste.gov.tl(pdf)
*
www.constituteproject.org(pdf)
Text of the Constitution in Portuguese(pdf)
Text of the Constitution in Tetum(pdf)
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-west ...
Politics of East Timor
{{EastTimor-poli-stub