AL election | Conservatives and democrats both winners

Mak Soi Kun was the most voted candidate in yesterday’s Legislative Assembly (AL) elections. According to the official data released early morning today, Mak got 17,207 votes and his Macau-Guangdong Union managed to elect a second lawmaker, Zheng Anting.

The Macau-Guangdong Union political platform prioritizes issues of livelihood. The group demands a minimum MOP10,000 monthly pension for people aged above 65 years old, and better medical and living welfare conditions.

Another key element of the group’s platform is their focus on the youth. The team’s candidates want better policies to help the youth buy their own houses and acquire better skills

Heading the Union for Development group, Ella Lei obtained 16,694 votes, also electing a second lawmaker, Leong Sun Iok. Her results make the Macao Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) one of the winners of the election. FAOM is expected to have more representatives appointed lawmakers by the Chief Executive.

The other winner of the night is the pan-democrat side, with members and former members of the New Macau Association electing three lawmakers, namely Au Kam San and Ng Kuok Cheong, both veterans at the AL, and the newcomer Sulu Sou [Read more].

Though Sulu Sou remained in the top 14 for most of the evening, the daylight hours drew to a round of applause and cheering as the city’s youngest lawmaker was confirmed – in spite of what the group has regarded in past weeks as an orchestrated ‘smear campaign’ against them.

The mood at the New Macau headquarters was one of hope; that a young lawmaker, backed by the youth, could bring a much-needed revitalization to Macau’s legislature.

Pereira Coutinho kept his lawmaker post with 14,383 votes, but failed to see his number two, Leong Veng Chai, elected.

Supporters of candidate José Pereira Coutinho gathered at Macau Civil Servants’ Association last night, chanting as several volunteers counted the votes of their candidate.

Speaking to the Times, Coutinho expressed his content with the results, adding that the group has been working hard to achieve a high number of votes.

The re-elected legislator also said that residents had learned from this election and he hoped that the next election will be more impartial.

“I hope that the next election would be much more fair and clean. Local people can upgrade their knowledge about politics and what is going on in the Legislative Assembly works, which is one of the biggest problems in Macau,” he noted.

Coutinho implied that he would call for more directly elected seats, adding that the number of such seats has not changed since 2009.

“We have a dream that one day, the majority of AL are direct elected and only one seat, according to the basic law, will remain indirectly elected,” said the re- elected lawmaker.

Agnes Lam, a scholar at the University of Macau, was successful in her third attempt to reach the parliament with 9,590 votes.

Chan Meng Kam’s list-splitting strategy did not pay off. Incumbent lawmakers Song Pek Kei and Si Ka Lon successfully defended their seats, but failed to match the best expectations, which would see the two lists backed by Chan electing four lawmakers.

When interviewed by the Times yesterday night, the results of the election were not fully known, but Song said that she was putting her hopes in some polling stations. ““In the northern district, there is a bigger population. I think the turnout rate in this district is almost the same as that of the previous election,” she said.

When talking about his expectations regarding the results, Si Ka Lon echoed Song’s expectations.  “The northern district will have more votes. I also believe that, after so many years of hard working, we will have some votes in other districts as well,” he said.

The failure of Chan’s strategy may be explained by the peculiarities of Macau’s electoral system, whereby the number of votes needed to elect consecutive lawmakers from a single list increases exponentially. The result is that the number of votes needed for a list’s third lawmaker may exceed that of its first and second candidates combined.

It is the biggest political defeat for Chan Meng Kam, the most distinguished leader of Macau’s Fujianese community, since he first entered mainstream politics in 2005.

One of the surprises of the election was the non-election of Melinda Chan. Her group Alliance for Change failed to retain her seat at the AL. Chan couldn’t hide her disappointment. “I never thought this would happen, but I respect the decision of the Macau citizens,” she told TDM.

Despite being elected with 10,447 votes, Angela Leong also showed some disappointment for not electing a second lawmaker when talking to supporters after the results were known. Staff reporters