AL election | Mandatory declarations top concerns of lawmaker candidates

Andre Cheong (left) and Tong Hio Fong

The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly election (CAEAL) met yesterday with lawmakers for a briefing on election guidelines.

Questions on the mandatory declarations of events held by associations with the participation of candidates in the Legislative Assembly (AL) election topped the concerns of lawmakers, who sought to have a few points clarified.

Several lawmakers took the opportunity to express concern over the mandatory declaration of events that are considered to be“campaign actions.”

According to the statement yesterday, any event or public activity organized by an organization linked to a lawmaker candidate, during the two-week electoral period, must be declared.

As noted the assistant commissioner of the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC), Lam Chi Long, during his presentation, “the duty of declaration for legal entities is only necessary in case the candidate [in the AL election] was a member of administration or other board member in the previous year and until August 31 2017.”

While the case of private companies did not initially raise concerns for the lawmakers, the fact that members of association and foundations – “even if [the lawmaker is] an honorary member” – are included in the declaration, raised doubts with several lawmakers.  They remarked that it is impossible to know if a candidate is or is not an honorary member of an association, since such positions are not stated in the bylaws.

On the topic, Mak Soi Kun asked if candidates could resort to newspaper’s advertisements to state their affiliations, instead of making the official declaration.

However, Commissioner André Cheong clarified, “such adverts are useless as they do not have any juridical value.”

Lam also noted that legal entities only need to declare the activities to the CAEAL in case such activities are not clearly stated as campaign actions and involve the attribution of benefits to the participants such as food and beverage, trips, entertainment, subsidies and gifts of any kind.

“In the case that the candidate participates in such events, he should also declare that to the CAEAL,” Lam added.

Also made clear yesterday was that all declarations for activities to be held within 16 days before the election – that is from September 2 to 17 – must be made before the deadline on August 30.

If the entities and candidates involved fail to comply with the declarations, they may be subject to a fine that can range from MOP10,000 to MOP100,000.

The concept of ‘electoral corruption’ was also explored during yesterday’s meeting. It was announced that actions such as offering or promising employment, or some form of advantage to incentivize voters to favor a particular candidate, or actions that result in the discouragement of a voter to vote, will constitute electoral corruption. Such actions will face a penalty of imprisonment with duration from one to eight years.

Previously, the president of CAEAL, Tong Hio Fong, presented the guidelines for the elections in a document summarizing the law and explaining several parts of the election and its rules.

Moreover, the document set rules for the candidates’ headquarters, the means of propaganda as well as what should be done regarding campaign expenses and voting methods.

The document closes with the remark that qualified disobedience of the CAEAL rulings will represent a contravention of the law.