Law on the Election of the National Parliament of East Timor

This is the law on the election of the national parliament for East Timor. It was adopted on December 28th 2006. Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1338/01 of 31 January, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was entrusted the responsibility to ensure free and fair elections in cooperation with the Timorese people. Lists of candidates may be presented by political parties running individually or in electoral coalition. Members of National Parliament shall be elected by a single national constituency, through plurinominal lists, and the conversion of the votes into seats shall observe the proportional system in accordance with the Hondt method which, applied to a universe of 65 seats, will ensure a broad representation in the parliamentary composition. The present law provides however for a threshold of representation in order to prevent an excessive party pulverization on one hand and, on the other hand, potentiate the representation of the political forces actually implanted in Timorese society.