Torres

  

Republic of Torres Torres
Flag
Capital	Madeira
Largest city	São Vicente
Official languages	Tetum Portuguese
Government	Unitary semi-presidential republic
• President	Xavier Lobato
• Prime Minister	Teresa Araújo
Legislature	Vintistas
• Upper house	Chamber of Deputies
• Lower house	National Assembly
Establishment
• Portuguese discovery	1522
• Independence	1824
• Regime Escuro era	1949
• Democracy restored	1958
Population
• 2022 estimate	TBD
GDP (PPP)	TBD estimate
• Total	TBD (TBD)
• Per capita	TBD
GDP (nominal)	TBD estimate
• Total	TBD
• Per capita	TBD
Currency	Torresian pataca
Time zone	UTC+9:00

Torres, formally known as Republic of Torres is a sovereign state in Northern Australia. It shares its maritime border with Papua in the north and Pacific Ocean in the east. It also shares its land border with Makassar in the west, and Eureka in the south. Torres covers a total land area of TBD and has a population of TBD people. Madeira is the capital while São Vicente is the largest city.

The country was uninhabited thousands of years ago. It was discovered by the Portuguese colonizers in 1522 and they created the first settlements near the coast. One of the first settlements is on the present site of the old city of Conceição. Many Timorese people migrated to Torres due to the Dutch invasion of Timor Island. There is also an influx of migrants from Galicia, Brazil, Malacca, and Goa due to trade and commerce interest in the area.  In 1912, Torres achieved its independence from Portugal after the end of Madeira uprising. Since then, Torres has become a unitary parliamentary republic.

History

Independence

Madeira uprising began in 1911 as a response to the efforts of Portuguese colonial authorities to collect a head tax and enforce the corvée. Many farmers in the villages revolt against the Portuguese due to their unpaid labor. The income for agriculture have taken advantaged by the owner of fazendas. Some of the farmers had received only few patacas from the owners. The farmers demanded for independence from Portugal as they believe that the colonizers did not granted their rights. During the uprising, the colonial forces and local allies were lost by the revolutionaries.

Torres declared independence from Portugal in July 12, 1912 when the Treaty of Paragua signed by Portuguese colonizers and Torresian revolutionaries. It was indicated in the treaty that the Portugal will not control Torres as a colony. Fernando Tilman became the first president of Torres while he appointed Manuel Montoya as his prime minister.

Politics and government

Main article: Politics of Torres

The political system of Torres is semi-presidential, based upon the Portuguese system. The constitution establishes both this separation of executive powers between the president and the prime minister; and the separation of powers between the executive, legislature, and judiciary. Executive power is exercised by the Government, whose leader is the Prime Minister. Legislative power is primarily vested in the Vintistas (bicameral legislature), although the government is also able to legislate on certain matters. Vintistas is divided into two chambers: Chamber of Deputies (upper house) and National Assembly (lower house). The judiciary operates independently and there are no executive and legislative interference. Elections are run by the National Electoral Commission, and turnout is high, ranging from around 70% to 85%. The political system has wide public acceptance.

The head of state of Torres is the president of the republic, who is elected by popular vote for a four-year term, and can serve a maximum of three terms. Formally, the president had a power over the appointment and dismissal of the prime minister and the council of ministers. The prime minister is the head of government and the presides over the cabinet. The Courts are organized into several levels, among the judicial, administrative and fiscal branches. The Supreme Court is consists of twelve justices, including the Chief Justice. It is responsible for hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts. While the Constitutional Court is composed of eight justices and it oversees the constitutionality of the laws.

Administrative divisions

Region	Regional center	Municipalities
Northern Torres (Região I)	Conceição	Ambeno
		Conceição
		Ilhas do Estreito de Torres
		Novo Timor
Central Torres (Região II)	São Vicente	Atauro
		Flores
		Nova Galiza
		Porto Macassar
		Solor
Southern Torres (Região III)	Paragua	Barique
		Cailaco
		Paragua
Torres Capital Region (Região IV)	Madeira	Capital Municipal

Political parties

Main article: List of political parties in Torres

Name		Founded	Ideology	Upper house seats	Lower house seats	Political position
	National Democratic Union	1974	Social conservatism Populism			Right-wing
	Social Democratic Party	1911	Social democracy Democratic socialism			Center-left to left wing
	United Popular Front	2007	Social liberalism Social democracy			Center to center-left
	Labor Party	1937	Laborism Social democracy			Center-left
	Social Christian Union	1989	Populism Christian democracy			Center to center-right

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Torres

Demographics

Language

Tetum and Portuguese are the official languages of the country. Almost half of the population can speak Tetum as their native language. Both Tetum and Portuguese are used as a language in schools, offices, government, and mass media. Some of the regional languages in the country are Galician, Konkani, Marathi, Tamil, Malay, Makassarese, and Hakka.

Religion

Igreja da Imaculada Conceição church, in Paragua.

The Constitution of Torres enshrines the principles of freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Almost three-fourth of the country's population are Christian. According to 2020 census, 89.2% of the population is Roman Catholic; 4.1% Avignonese Catholic; 3.6% Protestants; 1.8% Muslim; 0.03% Folk religions; 0.05% Buddhist; 0.03% Hindus, and 1.11% other religions. Torres is the only country with predominantly Roman Catholic population. The Roman Catholic Church divides Torres into four archdioceses: the Archdiocese of Madeira, the Archdiocese of Novo Timor, the Archdiocese of Segóvia, and the Archdiocese of Imaculada. In rural areas, Roman Catholicism is syncretised with local animist beliefs based on Torresian culture. Southern region of Torres has a larger Protestant population while the municipality of Porto Macassar have the largest Muslim population among the municipalities.