The Timor-Leste National Electoral Commission (CNE) is a young electoral body. In 2004, Timor-Leste created the CNE in the context of the Village Chief and Village Council elections. The mandate of this electoral commission ended at the beginning of 2006, pursuant to Article 32, Law No. 2/2004 that states that "the mandate of the National Electoral Commission shall commence on the day immediately after the official announcement of its members’ names ….. and before the beginning of the registration process. The mandate of the National Electoral Commission shall cease with the submission of the final report to the competent court".

The initial structure of the CNE comprised thirteen (13) members, who were elected and appointed from four (4) Sovereign Bodies, namely:

From the Office of the President, the following three (3) people were appointed:

1. Isabel Amaral Guteres
2. José Luis de Oliveira
3. Mário Nicolau dos Reis

From National Parliament the following four (4) people were appointed:

1. Faustino Cardoso Gomes
2. Maria do Çeu Federer
3. Sebastião Dias Ximenes
4. Valentim Ximenes

From the Government the following three (3) were appointed:

1. Joana Maria Dulce Victor
2. Maria de Fátima W. Gomes
3. Marcelina Irene Mesquita

And finally from the Judicial Magistrates the following three (3) people were appointed:

1. Amandio de Sa Benevides
2. Carmelita Caetano Moniz
3. Verónica Maia Barros

On January 2007, in the context of the General Election, Timor-Leste established second structure of CNE with a mandate of six years (2007-2013).

The second structure of the CNE comprised twenty seven (27) people, who were elected and appointed by four (4) Sovereign Bodies and other entities.

The second structure of the CNE was established and the swearing-in ceremony was held on 15 January 2007 by the President of the National Parliament, H.E. Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo, which was also attended by the then President of the Republic H.E. Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão. On that Day, CNE members held a meeting with the President of the National Parliament, and elected Faustino Cardoso Gomes as the first president of the CNE.

There were 27 CNE members, who were divided into two groups: 15 effective members and 12 substitute members. Amongst these members there was a reasonable gender balance, namely: amongst the effective members there were 10 men and 5 women, and amongst the substitute members there were 5 men and 7 women.

They came from various entities and represent their institution and organization. Law 5/2006, Article 5.1 lists the CNE composition as follows:

1. Three (3) members appointed by the President of the Republic.
   The effective members were Faustino Cardoso Gomes; Maria Domingas Fernandes Alves and Joana Maria Dulce Vitor. Julio Tomas Pinto was the substitute member.
2. Three (3) members appointed by the National Parliament.
   The effective members were Maria Angelina Lopes Sarmento; Jose Agostinho da Costa Belo and Silvester Xavier Sufa. Together with them, there were also the following substitute members: Benicia Erina Xavier dos Reis Magno, Margarida Fernandes Alves, Jose Nelson Salsinha and Sãozinha de Jesus Marques Alves.
3. Three (3) members appointed by the Government.
   Lucas de Sousa; Teresinha Maria Noronha Cardoso and Tome Xavier Jeronimo were effective members; Miguel Maia was the substitute member.
4. One (1) member appointed by the Judicial Magistrate.
   The effective member was Deolindo dos Santos and Duarte Tilman was the substitute member.
5. One (1) member appointed by the Public Prosecution Service.
   Vicente Fernandes e Brito was the effective member and Zelia Trindade was the substitute member.
6. One (1) member appointed by the Public Defender’s Office.
   Sergio de Jesus Fernandes da Costa Hornai was the effective member and Olga Barreto Soares was the substitute member.
7. One (1) member appointed by the Catholic Church Father Martinho Germano da Silva Gusmão was the effective member and Elda Batista Gomes Hcarm was the substitute member.
8. One (1) member appointed by Other Religions, Arif Abdullah Sagran (Moslem) was the effective member and Rev. Francisco Maria de Vasconcelos (Protestant) was the substitute member.
9. i) One (1) member appointed by Woman Organizations, Manuela Leong Pereira was the effective member and Laura Soares Abrantes was the substitute member.

This first structure of the Electoral Commission gained experienced from the community leader elections (2004-2005), and the second structure of the commission gained experience from the 2007 general elections (the second election of the President of Republic and also the National Parliament Elections). At the same time, these elections gave experience, knowledge and the lessons learned to the commissioners. However, there is an ongoing demand for high quality democracy, electoral behavior, effectiveness of institutional performance and staff development. These dynamics demand adequate commitment and appropriate policies for capacity building (institutional and individual) from the competent authorities.

The second structure of the CNE prioritized capacity building at the institutional level and for individual commissioners, among others priorities, in its plans (annual and six year). CNE adopted some experiences from comparative studies on electoral activities and international electoral observation as an alternative for capacity building. This capacity building started in 2007, to provide an opportunity to the commissioners to increase and strengthen their knowledge and experience related to electoral matters. They were able to observe and find out about electoral systems in other countries. At the same time, they also obtained some comparative perspectives related to elections from other countries as well as from Timor-Leste, to identify the disadvantages and advantages based on the experiences of each country.

This capacity building will build self-confidence in relation to good practices that exist in Timor-Leste, as well as identifying shortcomings and bad practices that occur in the field. Performance will improve as a result of this process. ‘Take and give’ will also happen during this process. The commissioners not only obtained experiences from other countries, they also had the opportunity to share their experiences with representatives from other countries. The success of Timor-Leste, through the commissioners, can also be shared with other countries, that can be used as a reference when engaging in discussion with colleagues from other countries.