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Dili, December 13th, 2016
Council of Ministers meeting on December 13th, 2016
The Council of Ministers met on Tuesday at the Government Palace in Dili, and approved the first amendment to the Government Decree on the 2016 State General Budget Execution, proposed by the Ministry of Finance. This Decree changes the rules on budget execution in the category of Salaries and Wages covered by Government Decree no. 1/2016 of January 14th. With this amendment the time limit for the submission of the staff maps is extend for Services Without Administrative and Financial Autonomy (in Portuguese: SSAAF), Autonomous Services and Funds (in Portuguese: SFA) and Autonomous Bodies Without Own Income (in Portuguese: OASRP), in order to ensure the implementation of the budget in their categories and allow for continuity of payments and reliable information on how much the State spends.
To improve the quality of the interpretation of the elections legal framework and, therefore, improving the organization of the electoral process, the Council of Ministers approved the 5th Amendment to the Electoral Law for the President of the Republic and the 4th Amendment to the Electoral Law for the National Parliament, both presented by the Minister of State, Coordinator of Administration Affairs and Justice and Minister of State Administration. The amendments seek to harmonize with the laws for the election administration bodies and the administrative division of the territory, recently amended, and to enable the electoral participation of Timorese citizens residing outside the country. In addition, the harmonization of the provisions of the electoral law with the National Parliament’s regime and the introduction of rules on violations of party discipline, with consequences that can include the loss of the office of deputy, seek to strengthen the authority of parliamentary seats.Despite an increase to 5% of the total number of voters registered in the electoral census having been proposed as a threshold, the Council of Ministers decided to maintain the current 3% of votes validly cast in order to assign to any party parliamentary mandates.
The Minister of State, Coordinator of Economic Affairs and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, presented the draft Law on Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation, which allows for an alternative resolution of trade disputes. It was prepared based on the version of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) model law, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1985; in addition to commercial arbitration, it also regulates the mediation and conciliation of trade conflicts. This Government initiative is intended to encourage private investment and the consequent diversification of the economy.