Oekusipost.com Dili – The 19 MPs in Timor-Leste have submitted a petition against the President of the Republic to the High Court to fiscalise some of his decisions that allegedly violate the Constitution.
The time period for this petition is from Tuesday, May 5 to June 15, 2020, excluding Saturdays and Sundays.
Lawyer Manuel Tilman with Miguel Faria who represent of 19 MPs who registered the petition to the the Court of Appeal.
Manuel Tilman stated, before registering the petition to the Court of Appeal, he first met the Chairman of National Parliament Arão Noe de Jesus Amaral and received a positive response to the petition.
"18 members of the national parliament who signed and appointed me as a lawyer. The Court of Appeal has 30 days to make an appreciation of this petition," Tilman told reporters after submitted the petition on Tuesday, 5 May 2020.
Tilman said only 18 members of parliament, but according to the petition document accessed by The Oe-Kusi Post there were 19 MPs who signed this petition consisting of 18 from the CNRT party and one from the UDT/FM party.
He said, their presence in the Court of Appeal was in accordance with what had been stated in the Constitution, as stated by the President of the Republic in his inauguration oath to comply with the constitution.
He added, in a democratic country everyone must obey the laws which must start from the President of the Republic.
"We came here because the President of the Republic promised to abide by the constitution. We understand that many of his actions until today have not answered what the Constitution wants," he stressed.
He mentioned article 86 paragraph F that, if the draft state budget is not approved for more than 60 days, the head of state must dissolve the national parliament.
"He didn't do this. Another article is that the appointment of the prime minister is based on who wins the election, not the President of the Republic who appoints it," he explained.
He added, after the 2020 state budget did not pass in the National Parliament on January 17, Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak realized that he has no power, because he lost the confidence of the government he was leading.
Thus, he (PM) submitted a dismissal request to the President of the Republic, but after more than 60 days no any decission from the president and finally the prime minister withdrew his resignation request to continue to lead the actual government although it was unstable, not strong, because from January to the day the actual government only using a duadesimal budget.
In connection with this situation, according to Tilman that, in fact the head of state should have dissolved the national parliament when the state budget for 2020 did not pass last January.
"It has been more than 60 days that the state budget has not been approved and he must dissolve the National Parliament, in order to form a new government to re-submit a new state budget to resolve the problems faced by the people," Tilman explained.
The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (K-RDTL) in article 86 paragraph F explains; "Dissolve the National Parliament, when there is a large institutional crisis in which there is no government formation or approval of the state budget for a longer period of more than 60 days, when it has heard of political parties that have seats in the national parliament and state security council, within a period of time there is no legal basis for disbanding, see article 100 ".
Meanwhile, article 106 regarding (election) number 2 that, other government members, will be elected by the President of the Republic at the request of the head of government.
However, President Lú Olo refused to appoint 7 candidates for government from the CNRT party and 2 from the KHUNTO party on the grounds that the candidates had criminal cases registered with the court, but the court itself had declared that they did not have any particular criminal cases.
This tiny country in Southeast Asia has faced a political crisis since the coalition of Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak's coalition collapsed. Ruak, whose real name is Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, resigned in February after failing to complete the 2020 budget several times.
This failure occurred because the largest coalition party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction which was founded by Xanana attracted support.
This was triggered after a number of ministerial names put forward by Xanana Gusmao were rejected by the FRETILIN opposition party founded by president Guterres, in connection with allegations of bribery.
To this day, President Guterres has yet to approve the resignation of Taur Matan Ruak, and finally the prime minister has also withdrawn his decision.
