A total of 21 aspiring candidates in six groups for this year’s Legislative Assembly (AL) election were disqualified due to “factual evidence” proving that they neither support Macau’s Basic Law nor are loyal to the Macau SAR region.
The decision was announced by the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) Friday afternoon July 9.
The members of the CAEAL asserted that they came to the decision to disqualify the individuals after conducting a comprehensive evaluation on all AL election candidates.
However, the CAEAL did not disclose which people of the six groups are disqualified. However, some reliable sources confirmed to the Times that candidates Scott Chiang, Sulu Sou, Paul Chan, and Cloee Chao have been invalidated.
The Times were told that José Pereira Coutinho has advised his list is not involved in the disqualification.
In the media briefing, CAEAL was urged to clarify the specific criteria under which these people were deemed “not supporting Macau’s Basic Law.” In response, the representatives of the CAEAL did not offer a direct explanation.
CAEAL members added they could not disclose the details for the time being due to privacy issues. They vowed to prioritize tackling the matter in line with the law and announce the information in due course.
Some members of the media pointed out that some disqualified candidates are current lawmakers, and queried CAEAL as to why these candidates had not been disqualified in previous AL elections, but only this term.
Chairman of the CAEAL, Tong Hio Fong said the commission made the decision based on the reviewing process for this year’s AL election.
The CAEAL advised their decision to disqualified individuals earlier today, and required them to deliver responses and declare whether they would replace the dis-entitled individuals with other candidates by July 12.
Apart from the 21 people ruled out, another 2 candidates from one group were found to be non-voters and thus also disqualified.
The shocking news came two days after the CAEAL published the 24 lists that are running for seats in the seventh term of the Legislative Assembly (AL), with 19 lists running in the direct elections and the remaining five in the indirect sectorial election. Honey Tsang
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