Canberra, ACT: Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University
Doi
Abstract
In his inauguration speech on 16 February 2015,
Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araújo announced
the mantra of his new government: ‘the members
of the Sixth Government will put the interests
of the people above any other partisan interests’
(16/2/2015:2). Resorting to this rhetorical topos
may be warranted by the major realignment of
the parliamentary support for the new government
(commonly referred to as ‘National Unity’
or ‘National Inclusion’) now headed by a member
of what was until then the sole opposition party,
but the implicit disjunction between ‘people’s’ and
‘parties’’ interests suggests a political discourse
emerging from a populist, authoritarian ethos
rather than from the tradition of liberal democracies.
The Minister of State at the Presidency of the
Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, claims that the
bold political move that accompanied the resignation
of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão midway
through his term and led to the reconfiguration of
the political landscape — by means of a new governmental
formula that defied established assumptions
imposed in the transitional period and in
force after independence — represents a transformation
of ‘belligerent democracy to consensus
democracy’ (24/1/2014).
Formed in the national
parliament and observing the basic rules of TimorLeste’s
constitution, there is no reason to assume
that Araújo’s government contradicts formal prescriptions
of a democratic polity. However, it can
be scrutinised and the wisdom of its underlying
assumptions called into debate from the perspective
of the long and winding road that leads to the
consolidation of democracyAusAI
