Venidora Oliveira – The Director of the Directorate of Plenary Support of the National Parliament, Armando Machado said that in 2015, members of parliament were able to pass 10 new pieces of legislation.

He added that some of the laws were proposed by the government while others were proposed by members of the national parliament.

"During twelve months, starting in September 2014 and up until September 2015 they were able to pass 10 new laws," said Director Machado at the National Parliament, in Dili.

Some of the law passed that were proposed by the government included the Voter Registration and Residency Law, the Political Parties Law, the Law on Electoral Administration, the Law on Territorial Administrative Legislation, the Community Leadership Law, and the Budget and Ratification Laws for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Laws proposed by the MP's included the Consumer Protection Law, the Judicial Regime for Private Lawyers and legislation on lawyer training.

Director Machado said also that the National Parliament also ratified a range of UNESCO conventions including the Convention on Protection of World Patrimony, Cultural and Natural and also ratified cooperation agreements with several nations including between Timor-Leste and Portugal and also with the Vatican.

"They approved the diplomatic free visa cooperation with the European Union," he said.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament MP Adriano Joao acknowledged that the National Parliament passed many laws in the space of twelve months and he expects many other important laws will be passed in 2016. "Including the Land and Property Law, the Anti-Corruption Law, and the Life Pension Law," added Joao.

Community resident Mario Goncalves said he is unhappy with the types of laws passed because they do not address the people's needs and that the most important laws are the Life Pension Law and the Anti-Corruption Law. "These laws are very important for the communities but they have not discussed them," he said.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/capital/13432-national-parliament-passed-10-new-laws-in-2015