President of Timor-Leste

The president of Timor-Leste, officially the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste (Portuguese: Presidente da República Democrática de Timor-Leste; Tetum: Prezidente Republika Demokratika Timor-Leste) is the head of state of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. The executive powers of the president are limited; however, the President is also the ex officio head of the Council of State, is able to veto legislation, and is the supreme commander of the Timor-Leste Defence Force.

President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Presidente da República (Portuguese) Prezidente Republika (Tetum)
National emblem of Timor-Leste
Incumbent José Ramos-Horta since 20 May 2022
Style	His Excellency
Status	Head of state
Residence	Nicolau Lobato Presidential Palace
Seat	Dili
Appointer	Direct election
Term length	Five years,[1] renewable once
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Timor-Leste (2002)
Precursor	Governor of East Timor
Formation	28 November 1975; 49 years ago (1975-11-28) (Proclamation of Independence day) 20 May 2002; 23 years ago (2002-05-20) (East Timor independence)
First holder	Francisco Xavier do Amaral Xanana Gusmão
Abolished	17 July 1976; 49 years ago (1976-07-17) (Indonesian invasion of East Timor)
Deputy	President of the National Parliament
Salary	US$30,000 annually[2]

List of presidents of Timor-Leste

Political parties

  Fretilin

  National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT)

  Democratic Party (PD)

Other factions

  Independent

Symbols

† Assassinated

Presidents of East Timor during the War for Independence

See also: Democratic Republic of East Timor (1975)

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Francisco Xavier do Amaral (1939–2012)	—	28 November 1975	7 December 1975	9 days	Fretilin
2		Nicolau dos Reis Lobato (1946–1978)		7 December 1975	31 December 1978†[a]	3 years, 24 days	Fretilin

Presidents of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
3		Xanana Gusmão (born 1946)	2002	20 May 2002	20 May 2007	5 years	Independent
4		José Ramos-Horta (born 1949)[b]	2007	20 May 2007	20 May 2012	5 years	Independent
–		Vicente Guterres (born 1956) Ad interim[c]	—	11 February 2008	13 February 2008	2 days	CNRT
–		Fernando de Araújo (1962–2015) Ad interim[c]		13 February 2008	17 April 2008	64 days	PD
5		Taur Matan Ruak (born 1956)	2012	20 May 2012	20 May 2017	5 years	Independent
6		Francisco Guterres (born 1954)	2017	20 May 2017	20 May 2022	5 years	Fretilin
7		José Ramos-Horta (born 1949)	2022	20 May 2022	Incumbent	3 years, 79 days	CNRT

Timeline

Latest election

Main article: 2022 East Timorese presidential election

The second round of the elections was held on 19 April between José Ramos-Horta, a former president, and the incumbent Francisco Guterres. In the runoff Ramos-Horta prevailed with 62% of the vote.^[3]

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	José Ramos-Horta	National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction	303,477	46.56	398,028	62.10
	Francisco Guterres	Fretilin	144,282	22.13	242,939	37.90
	Armanda Berta dos Santos	Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nasional Timor Oan	56,690	8.70
	Lere Anan Timur	Independent	49,314	7.57
	Mariano Sabino Lopes	Democratic Party	47,334	7.26
	Anacleto Bento Ferreira	Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Party	13,205	2.03
	Martinho Germano da Silva Gusmão	United Party for Development and Democracy [de]	8,598	1.32
	Hermes da Rosa Correia Barros	Independent	8,030	1.23
	Milena Pires	Independent	5,430	0.83
	Isabel da Costa Ferreira	Independent	4,219	0.65
	Felizberto Araújo Duarte	Independent	2,709	0.42
	Constâncio da Conceção Pinto	Independent	2,520	0.39
	Rogerio Lobato	Independent	2,058	0.32
	Virgílio da Silva Guterres	Independent	1,720	0.26
	Antero Benedito Silva	Independent	1,562	0.24
	Ángela Freitas	Independent	711	0.11
Total			651,859	100.00	640,967	100.00
Valid votes			651,859	98.16	640,967	99.16
Invalid/blank votes			12,247	1.84	5,422	0.84
Total votes			664,106	100.00	646,389	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			859,613	77.26	859,925	75.17
Source: National Election Commission[4][5]

See also

• Politics of Timor-Leste
• History of Timor-Leste
• List of colonial governors of Portuguese Timor
• Prime Minister of Timor-Leste
• First Lady of Timor-Leste

Notes

1. Killed by the Indonesian special forces.
2. Incapacitated from 11 February to 17 April 2008.
3. Served as President during the 2008 assassination attempts.