ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the changing operation of suku councils in Timor-Leste from the perspective of those elected to serve in Xefe Suku and Xefe Aldeia roles. Building on findings first published with Cummins the chapter presents findings from a return to the same fieldwork sites in 2014, six years after the initial fieldwork was conducted. The chapter also examines the perspective of two elected Xefes in Vemasse sub-district, and their views on the operation of suku councils and budgets, the pakote electoral system, campaigning in the local government context, relations with political parties, and their impressions of the evolving ways suku councils interact with traditional authorities. It concludes with some specific recommendations from the respondent Xefes for reforms to local administration in Timor-Leste. The chapter suggests that new hybrid modes of authority are emerging in suku governance, as tradition and democracy "walk together".
