AL Plenary | Lawmakers pass controversial electoral amendments

Electoral campaign activity during the 2013 AL election

The Legislative Assembly (AL) gathered on Friday to revise and vote on legislation concerning electoral law. The changes put into effect through this vote will affect next year’s election.

The revision covers several controversial aspects such as the recently introduced allegiance pledge, which is seen as a response to the “oath-taking controversy” triggered by Hong Kong legislators Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung. The “oath-taking controversy” resulted in Beijing intervening and preventing the legislators from taking office. Three lawmakers – namely Au Kam San, Ng Kuok Cheong and Pereira Coutinho – voted against this allegiance pledge, claiming that it is not necessary.

“Premier Li Keqiang said that Macau is a hotbed for the implementation of the ‘one-country, two systems’ [policy] and that is a good thing,” Au Kam San argued. “We definitely do not need to do things that are unnecessary or add content that is unnecessary. There is no problem with the ‘one-country, two systems’ policy when it comes to Macau,” he said during Friday’s debate.

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, argued for the amendment, saying that the interpretation of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee regarding Hong Kong should be applicable to Macau.

“If anything were to happen in the future, we would have no law to follow. We could not merely depend on the constitutional law. We cannot only depend on the Basic Law and the legal interpretation of the NPC Standing Committee,” she said. Chan disagreed with Au’s argument by saying, “This is not following blindly or doing things that are unnecessary.”

Chan did note that it is problematic to cite an example of the enactment of the law in relation to the kinds of behavior that would be regarded as unsupportive of the MSAR and PRC governments. Thus she said that the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL) would provide guidelines for candidates.

Other controversial aspects that were considered and voted on in Friday’s session include a new definition of electoral campaign and the eligibility of individuals who can participate in the campaign. According to the new rules, only persons or groups who officially support individual candidates will be able to engage in campaign activities. The AL will set a limit on the campaign budget, and candidates will have to deposit MOP25,000 “to prevent candidacies which are not representative.” The money will not be returned if the candidate receives less than 300 votes.

In addition, the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL) will have at least six more members, as well as extended powers to punish infractions.

AL approves budget for 2017

The Legislative Assembly (AL) has approved the financial budget for the fiscal year of 2017. The total expenses for next year are estimated to be MOP95.7 billion, around MOP10.7 billion more than in 2016. It is projected that the 2017 income of the MSAR will be MOP102.9 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent year-on-year. As previously reported, the budget indicates that in 2017 the government expects to spend MOP20.8 billion on civil servants’ salaries. This figure represents 23.7 percent of the total budget, also an increase compared to last year.