‘Big Six’ yet again equated to public entities
The amendments to the electoral laws for the election of the Chief Executive (CE) include new provisions that equate the duties of independence of the six gaming concessionaires (Big Six) with those of the public entities and departments.
One of the main changes proposed notes the inclusion in the electoral law of an “explicit provision of the duty of neutrality and independence of the gaming concessionaires in the election of the CE,” the director of Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ), Leong Weng In, noted in her presentation.
She said that taking into account the electoral law for the Legislative Assembly (AL), besides public services and entities, as well as other companies of public nature, this duty of neutrality is extended to the gaming concessionaires. Such information was later complemented by Secretary André Cheong, who explained that the Big Six, as major employers in the city, have the capacity to potentially influence election results by exercising influence over their workers, a situation that the government wants to see very clearly regulated in the new law.
The incitement to “not to vote, blank voting or invalid voting” will also be the subject of regulation, Leong added, noting that the current laws only have provision for cases related to electoral fraud or the offer of incentives to vote for a specific candidate. In the review, the government wants to criminalize the call for abstention or null votes, as the acts are seen as “influencing the voters’ intention and they disturb the … order, justice and fairness of the elections,” the DSAJ director remarked.
Fines for “Electoral Polls” and unofficial results disclosure
Another aspect that the new electoral law amendments aim to address is overruling any potential unofficial or anticipated revelation of a voting trend or electoral polls. A common method of measuring and evaluating the election process elsewhere is set to be completely banned in Macau, with fines to be established for those that “disclose or promote the disclosure of results of surveys and electoral polls related to candidates.” This is valid “from the start of the election campaign and until the following day of the election,” with those failing to comply to be subject to a fine.
This rule applies to both the CE and the Legislative Assembly (AL) elections.
Also under tighter scope will be the “early election campaigns” from different groups, with the new law aiming to move the date of the commencement of the campaigning ban from the “date of publication of final accepted candidate lists” to the “date of presentation of the candidacies.” In practical terms, this will prevent early campaign actions like the ones usually seen by the groups when they are delivering the candidacy documents to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission, and would also prevent the early revelation of the people presenting applications before these are evaluated by the National Security Defense Commission.
