CE Electoral Commission president acknowledges election process is late

The president of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive (CE) Election, Judge Song Man Lei, has admitted that the commencement of the upcoming Macau CE election process is delayed. This acknowledgment was made during the inauguration ceremony of the new five members who will be responsible for overseeing the election proceedings.

Speaking to the media, Song noted that the process has been somewhat delayed since several legal periods need to be fulfilled, namely two months mediating between the end of the evaluations done by the Commission and the date of the election day.

Nonetheless, she noted that this delay is a slight one and should not interfere with the election date which is yet to be defined by the CE.

“I am confident that we have enough time to finalize all our work and I don’t think we are too late. Our goal is to finish our work before the deadline.”

Commenting on the new provisions, recently approved and establishing stricter rules for the approval of candidates and members for the 400-strong election college who will elect the CE, Song said that the mechanism to exclude the “non-patriots” will contribute positively to the election, and will not cause any interference in the electoral process.

Still, she noted the fact that the potential candidates are not entitled to an appeal from the decisions of the Commission as “an aspect to review and perfect [in the future].”