Candidacy lists applications open today, running for three months

From today until June 6, the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) will be accepting applications for recognition of eligibility to establish a candidacy list for the upcoming Legislative Assembly (AL) elections on September 14.

A statement from the Government Information Bureau informed that those interested in establishing the candidacy committee must submit the completed form to the CAEAL by June 6 to recognize its legal existence.

According to electoral law, only political associations and candidacy committees can propose candidates for direct suffrage elections. In contrast, only candidacy committees can propose candidates for indirect suffrage elections.

From today onwards, those interested in forming a candidacy committee can go to the electoral affairs service counter in the basement of the Public Administration Building or the Legislative Assembly Elections website (www.eal.gov.mo) to obtain the necessary form.

The applications are divided into two sections: the first is dedicated to the details of the Candidacy Committee, and the second includes the declarations of the candidacy subscribers.

In the first part, the name and acronym of the candidacy committee must be filled in, both in Chinese and Portuguese, and a member must be appointed as its representative. In addition, the electronic file of the candidacy committee’s symbol must also be provided in color and black and white.

Each direct suffrage candidacy committee must consist of a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 500 voters registered in the electoral registration book published in January 2025; each voter subscribed to the candidacy committee must fill out a “Voter Declaration” indicating their name and Permanent Resident Identity Card number as well as signature, according to the identification document.

After the amendments made last year to the AL elections law, it was established that each voter may only subscribe as a member of one candidacy committee. All subscriptions are null and void if a voter subscribes to multiple candidacy committees.

In indirect suffrage, the candidature committees shall be formed by a minimum of 20% of the total legal entities belonging to the respective electoral college, registered in the electoral register published in January of this year.

The subscription of the candidacy committee must be signed by the legal representative of the voting entity, stating the legal entity’s name and the registration number of the same entity in the electoral register.

A Declaration of Appointment of a Representative of the Legal Entity must also be provided.
After the CAEAL recognizes the legality of the candidature committees, they may submit their political programs until June 26. At this time, they must also provide a security deposit of MOP25,000.

Each candidate must sign a declaration stating support for the Macau Basic Law and loyalty to the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.