[note 1] In independent East Timor, Soares worked initially as a project manager for UNICEF.

In the elections that followed the dissolution, the Alliance for Change and Progress (AMP), which also included the CNRT, won an absolute majority.

On 22 June 2018, Soares was sworn in as Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in the VIII Constitutional Government.

[5][6] Following the breakdown of the AMP coalition in the first few months of 2020, the CNRT decided on 30 April 2020 that its members serving in the VIII Constitutional Government would resign their positions.

[7] The CNRT informed the government of its decision on 8 May 2020,[7] and Soares resigned as Minister of Education, Youth and Sports on 25 May 2020.