DILI (TOP) – Timor-Leste's election winning party CNRT has agreed to nominate Maria Fernanda Lay as chairman of the National Parliament for the next five years.
This decision was signed by the Secretary General of the CNRT party, Dato' Sri Francisco Kalbuadi Lay who was given to the chairman of the National Parliament in V legislature Aniceto Guterres.
Former chairman of the Timor-Leste Parliament Aniceto Guterres from the FRETILIN party who has led the process of changing this position on Thursday 22 June.
This event was attended by 65 new MPs from the CNRT, FRETILIN, KHUNTO and PLP parties. The President of PLP was not present at this event because he was still grieving over the loss of his beloved wife Isabel da Costa Ferreira.
Prior to the process of electing the speaker of parliament at the plenary session, Aniceto Guterres explained that he had met with the heads of factions from five political parties about submitting the list of candidates for speaker of parliament within 24 hours to the chair of parliament's desk. Until Thursday 22 June, there was only one list of candidates from the CNRT and PD parties.
With this situation, in the end there was only one candidate for chairman of the parliament, and the election results showed that there was 45 in favor and abstaining 19.
When Aniceto announced the election results, he was greeted with thunderous applause.
“Maria Fernanda Lay was elected chair of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste's first woman to be elected as speaker of parliament. Therefore, congratulation to Maria Fernanda Lay and congratulation to the women of Timor-Leste," said former chairman of the National Parliament Aniceto Guterres.
After that, Aniceto immediately invited Maria Fernanda Lay to come forward to sit in the Chair of the Parliament.
Fernanda Lay said, this VI legislature has accepted a new responsibility, because it has to carry out the restoration of all legal instruments.
“I am grateful to the chairman of the CNRT party Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão with his Secretary General Dato' Sri Francisco Kalbuadi Lay and also from the Democratic Party who believe in me as chairman of the parliament,” she said.
“I will carry out this task in accordance with the constitutional mandate and will continue to make contact with the opposition parties in order to maintain the unity and strength of this parliament”.
Former Minister of State Administration, Jorge da Conceição Teme praise the decision of the CNRT party to choose Maria Fernanda Lay to lead the national parliament for five years.
“I know and admit the potential or quality of Fernanda Lay in the third legislature, we were together in commission C which deals with Public Finance. She is not only smart, but masters in all subjects, she is also very critical and thorough”.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the FRETILIN party, Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri, issued a statement on his official Facebook page that today the mandate of the old members of parliament is over. The new lawmaker started with a piece of news. The winning parliamentary election, CNRT party appointed MP Maria Fernanda Lay as President of the National Parliament for the next five years.
“I believe that not all CNRT members agree with this decision. However, I am also a leader who knows the social and political realities of Timor-Leste, and looks at the struggle for Buibere's emancipation from Rosa Bonaparte (Muki) to Merita Alves, although with different backgrounds, everyone will be happy to see a first female friend become the chairman of the National Parliament.
“Therefore, FRETILIN will not be a proponent for the candidate indicated by the CNRT party, but will not support other candidates”.
Maria Fernanda Lay (born 1954) is a politician in Timor-Leste. She has been a member of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste since 2007.
Maria Fernanda Lay was born in 1954 in Baucau. She holds a bachelor's degree from a telecommunications school in Bandung, Indonesia.
While Indonesia still occupied Timor-Leste, Lay worked as a manager at Timor Telecom. She later worked as a project manager for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Lay subsequently pursued a political career as a member of the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party. She first gained a seat in the National Parliament of Timor-Leste in the 2007 elections, taking office on August 6, 2007. In her time in Parliament, she has served in leadership roles on various commissions.
Since 2010, she has served as secretary of her national group at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. She also led the body's Women's Network from 2010 to 2015.
On June 17, 2020, Lay made headlines for her involvement in a verbal and physical fight on the floor of the National Parliament with fellow legislator Olinda Guterres. After Lay spoke Portuguese during a debate, Guterres criticized her and argued she should instead have spoken in Tetum, a more commonly spoken language in East Timor.
Lay pointed out that the Constitution designates Portuguese as an official language of East Timor. She criticized Guterres in turn for allegedly having made racist comments, saying that the rival lawmaker had called her a china pirata ("Chinese pirate"). The two began physically fighting, and they had to be separated by other legislators.
