Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Eighth Constitutional Government

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Press Release

Meeting of the Council of Ministers on January 5th, 2022

The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Government Decrees, presented by the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, which aim to amend and/or complement the regulation of the Electoral Law for the President of the Republic, given the need to safeguarded compliance with the standards that aim to prevent the spread and dissemination of COVID-19 by the population. Thus, it was approved:

• the first amendment to Government Decree No. 5/2017, of February 27^th, which regulates campaigning and election propaganda;
• the first amendment to Government Decree No. 6/2017, of February 27^th, which regulates the organization and operation of the polling centre and voting stations;
• the first amendment to Government Decree No. 7/2017, of February 27^th, which regulates voting procedures, vote counting and tabulation of results;
• the first amendment to Government Decree No. 8/2017, of February 27^th, which approves the technical procedures for holding presidential elections abroad;
• the first amendment to Government Decree No. 9/2017, of February 27^th, which regulates the elections observation activity;
• the first amendment to Government Decree No. 10/2017, of February 27^th, which approves the technical procedures for carrying out the activities of news coverage of the presidential election;
• the first amendment to Government Decree no. 12/2017, of February 27^th, on the exercise of voting rights in hospital and prison establishments:
• the first amendment to Government Decree no. 13/2021, of February 27^th, which regulates the supervisory activity of the electoral process;
• the regulations on the submission of candidatures for the election of the President of the Republic; and
• the voting rights of voters who are in compulsory prophylactic isolation centres, compulsory therapeutic isolation centres, or in compliance with compulsory prophylactic isolation or compulsory therapeutic isolation in their homes or in a legally admitted location for that purpose.

Also approved was the draft Government Decree, presented by the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes, which aims to establish the rules regarding the execution of the 2022 General State Budget. This project is intended to guarantee an effective and rigorous budget control and, at the same time, simplify the budget execution procedures, continuing the changes implemented in the two previous years, to facilitate the execution of the General State Budget by the bodies and services of the public administrative sector. END