[1] A member of the Mambai ethnic group,[3] Amaral was a descendant of kings who ruled what is now the south-central Manufahi District of East Timor.

[1] His tenure in the presidency last only 10 days before he was forced to flee into the mountainous interior with the Fretilin due to the Indonesian invasion of the country on 7 December 1975.

[1] Amaral was ousted from Fretilin and imprisoned by the party's Marxist faction in 1977 amid disagreements over strategy for opposing the Indonesian occupation.

[1] He was exiled to Bali, where he was forced to work as a house servant for General Dading Kalbuadi, a leader of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

[1] Amaral publicly stated that he expected to lose to Gusmão, but believed that East Timor's young democracy deserved to have a real competition in the race.

[1] Following a three day period of national mourning,[6][7] he was given a state funeral and buried at the Metinaro Heroes Cemetery [de] in Dili.

[1][8] On 20 May 2017, for the 15th anniversary of the restoration of East Timor's independence, a statue of Francisco Amaral was inaugurated in Dili, at the roundabout near the Convention Center.