section_path: Administrative divisions
section_name: Administrative divisions
paragraph_text: Administrative divisions
  
  Timor-Leste is divided into fourteen municipalities, which in turn are subdivided into 64 administrative posts, 442 sucos (villages), and 2,225 aldeias (hamlets). The municipalities are:
  
  The existing system of municipalities and administrative posts was established during Portuguese rule.: 3 While decentralisation is mentioned in the constitution, administrative powers generally remain with the national government operating out of Dili.: 2 Upon independence there was debate about how to implement decentralisation; various proposed models would create different levels of administration between the sucos and the central government. In most proposals, there were no specific provisions for suco -level governance, and they were expected to continue to exist as mostly traditional spaces, identifying communities rather than being part of the civil administration. In the end, the existing districts were kept and renamed municipalities in 2009, and received very few powers.: 88–92
  
  In 2016 changes were made so that each municipality is led by a civil servant appointed by the central government. This civil servant is advised by locally elected leaders.: 4, 7 The isolated Oecusse municipality, which has a strong identity and is fully surrounded by Indonesian territory, is specified by Articles 5 and 71 of the 2002 constitution to be governed by a special administrative policy and economic regime. Law 3/2014 of 18 June 2014 implemented this constitutional provision, which went into effect in January 2015, turning Oecusse into a Special Administrative Region. The region began operating its own civil service in June 2015. In January 2022 the island of Atauro, formerly an Administrative Post of Dili, became its own municipality. Due to its small population, which the government states is insufficient to elect a Municipal Assembly, there are plans to convert Atauro to a Special Economic Zone similar to Oecusse.
  
  Administration in the lowest levels of the administrative system of Timor-Leste, the aldeias and sucos, generally reflects traditional customs,: 1 reflecting community identity and relationships between local households.: 4 Sucos generally contain 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants. Their long persistence and links to local governance means the sucos are the level of government that is linked to community identities, rather than any high level of administration.: 89 Such relationships, however, are associated specifically with the kinship groups within that land, rather than the land itself.: 52–53 Relationships between sucos also reflect customary practices, for example through the reciprocal exchanging of support for local initiatives.: 9 Laws passed in 2004 provided for the election of some suco officials, but assigned these positions no formal powers. An updated law in 2009 established the expected mandate of these positions, although it continued to leave them outside of the formal state system, reliant on municipal governments to provide formal administration and services.: 94–97 Further clarification was given in 2016, which entrenched the treatment of sucos and aldeias more as communities than formal levels of administration. Despite this lack of formal association with the state, suco leaders hold great influence and are often seen by their community as representatives of the state. They have responsibilities usually associated with civic administration.: 7–10