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Constitutional Rights
Rights to political participation are stated in article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees rights to take part in public affairs, free and universal suffrage, and generally equal access to public service roles.

These rights are largely upheld in TImor-Leste and rights to political participation are enshrined in the Constitution of Timor-Leste under section 46, which states that "every citizen has the right to participate in the political life and in the public affairs of the country", that every "citizen has the right to establish and to participate in political parties", and that "the establishment and organisation of such parties shall be regulated by law". Section 47 guarantees the right of every citizen above the age of seventeen to vote and be elected, and section 48 guarantees the right of citizens to submit "petitions, complaints and claims to to any authority with the purpose of defender his or her rights, the Constitution, the law or general interests".

Timor-Leste's democracy is well regarded internationally and the Economist's intelligence unit has rated it consistently between 7.22-7.24 between 2008 and 2016, on a scale where 0 indicates a fully authoritarian regime and 10 indicates a perfect democracy. This rating is the highest in the South Pacific and is close to that of major democracies such as the United States (7.98) and France (7.92).

The 2017 election was contested by 21 parties and voter turnout is high, voter turnout is high, with 77 percent of Timorese voting in the 2017 election, 74 percent in 2012, and 80 percent in 2007. Elections are held under a proportional system, where voters select parties rather than individual candidates, a system that gives substantial power to party leaders. Political parties also need at least 4 percent of the vote to enter parliament which limits the ability of some minor parties to participate.

The system is supportive of female participation and there is a requirement for one third of a party's candidates to be women, which has resulted in Timor-Leste having one of the highest percentages of female MPs in the Asia Pacific (38 percent prior to the 2017 election). However, meaningful participation by women is sometimes constrained by traditional attitudes and stereotypes, particularly in local and regional roles.

There are no legal constraints on participation by the country's few ethnic minority groups and they appear to be well integrated into the political system, although the total number positions held by ethnic minorities is uncertain since self-identification of ethnicity is an uncommon practice.

Limitations
Limitations on political participation in Timor-Leste are largely practical, as many areas of the country are hard to access due to geographical constraints and poor levels of roading infrastructure.

The convention of large political coalitions has been identified as a potential risk to the health of Timor-Leste's democracy. Dr Leach observes that since 2012, the two largest parties in government (the CNRT and Fretilin) have been in a 'grand coalition', a remarkable development since prior to the agreement, there were bitter tensions between the two parties. He notes that this recent trend towards coalitions is the result of a strong desire by Timorese politicians to facilitate stability, however, he also observes that such coalitions can risk undermining the accountability of the government due to the absence of a major opposition outside of government. Francisco Guterres (the Fretilin candidate) in 2015 sho r

Grenfell notes that the relative ineffectiveness of the Timorese judiciary in protecting rights has led to citizens and civil society seeking other methods to realise their rights and that lobbying politicians, especially the President, has proved quite effective in achieving this result.