The (New) Normal under the State of Emergency in Timor Leste

Abstract

Timor-Leste has dealt with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in the context of a developing state undergoing political crisis with limited resources in the public health sector. The process of simultaneously overcoming this political crisis and fighting the pandemic with existing limited resources involved all the branches of government in strategic cooperation within the framework of the constitutional separation of powers. The result was the declaration of long periods of State of Emergency and the consequent suspension of constitutional rights for periods of time lengthier than originally anticipated. This article argues that this ‘new normal’ affirms the maturity of the constitutional regime in Timor-Leste but questions the future of some of the solutions applied.