Election law review finally approved and ready for next year’s election

Lawmakers who comprise Macau’s Legislative Assembly (AL) unanimously approved the new amendments to the AL election law yesterday.

The amendments make several changes to election procedures as well as introduce a new mechanism by which to evaluate the candidates in light of the motto “Macau government by patriots.”

In a final voting that took place after only a few questions or calls for clarification, the topics that raised most discussion were related to the new rules completely excluding from all lists those found to be subscribing to more than one candidate’s list. The first version of the bill proposed that a person subscribed to multiple lists would be allowed to remain on the first subscribed list but, after discussion in the Second Standing Committee of the AL, it was decided it was fairer to exclude the person from all lists completely as the law states that each person can only subscribe to one.

Another topic of discussion was the start of the campaign ban period, which was initially at the point of submission of a candidacy list but, for the sake of fairness, was moved to the day after the deadline for submitting candidacy lists to avoid candidates submitting their lists at the very end of the submission period and to ensure all candidates are provided the same length of time to campaign.

As it is already known, the new mechanism used to measure candidates’ “patriotism” and “faithfulness to Macau and China” is binding and is not subject to any form of appeal.

The new law comes into force the day after its publication in the government’s official gazette and will apply to next year’s election for the AL.

In the initial presentation to the plenary, the president of the Committee, lawmaker Chan Chak Mo, noted that the amendment to the election law passed easily with only four committee meetings needed for both sides to agree to the final version. RM