The Director of JSMP (Justice System Monitoring Program) Luis Sampaio said whoever will assume the position of President of the National Parliament must have good communication capacity, to be able to coordinate between parties who will make up the national parliament and who will debate legislation for the country.
According to National Parliament Statutes, Article 14, the president of the parliament must defend the rights and dignity of the parliament, lead and coordinate work whilst being impartial to ensure the good functioning of parliament.
“We hope the president of parliament has the capacity to organise, control and implement the rules and give disciplinary sanctions to any member of parliament who does fulfil her or his duties as stated in the law,” he said.
He added JSMP’s monitoring of past parliaments activities shows many members of parliament violate the rules, arrive late or are absent without justification, which impacts the productivity of the parliament.
On the election of the President of the Parliament, Article 16 of its Statutes states candidates to president of parliament need to have between 10 to 20 signatures from other members of parliament and that the election of the president will be secret.
Meanwhile, Political Observer from the Universidade Nasional Timor –Lorosa’e (UNTL) Camilo Ximenes agrees that communicative capacity is very important because the national parliament also serves as a bridge between other organs of State and with the People.
He added the president of the parliament must also listen to everyone, including civil society organisations, the Church, political parties that did not get a seat in parliament, and to the People and to inform the government to respond to the needs of the people.
“The President must also pay attention to the actions of member of parliament because as representatives of the people they must represent the people’s aspirations rather than becoming the opposition of the people,” he said also.
It acknowledges members of the parliament are also party people, but when they sit inside the national parliament, they must represent the people and put the national interest above all else, including party loyalty.
For him, the president of parliament does not need to be a legal expert, and that what matters is that he is able to get different sides to work collectively, and must have good communication, good political will to ensure the interests of all parties and transfer these to the government to respond to.
