Election will be held September 17, as planned

Tong Hio Fong (front)

The Legislative Assembly election will be held, as planned, on September 17, the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL) announced at a press conference yesterday.

“The situation has basically reached a stable condition, and the relief works are being conducted orderly. As for the voting stations, we learnt that they were not greatly affected [by the typhoon]. The secretary division contacted schools and [learnt] that they can fix the damages in the short term, with a few exceptions. In other words, the schools can provide the commission places for voting stations,” said Tong Hio Fong, Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission.

At least one prominent member of Macau society earlier this week called for a postponement of the election, namely lawmaker Angela Leong. She said that voters were too preoccupied with disaster relief efforts to think about the election and therefore any elected lawmakers after September 17 might have their legitimacy doubted.

But Tong remarked that, “even if it is postponed by one week, the time will be really short [because] there are a series of holidays at the end of September and beginning of October.”

After the election, there will be a series of legal procedures that need to be completed. Moreover, there will be a possibility of administrative appeal regarding the election, or appeals to the Court of Final Appeal, according to Tong. “[We] believe that it will be difficult for the new AL to start working on October 16 [if the election is postponed],” he said.

The Electoral Affairs Commission will keep a close watch on the weather, and will prioritize the public’s safety accordingly.

“If a serious disaster occurs on the Election Day, […] the Chief Executive will re-schedule the election to be held within the next 30 days,” Tong explained.

“Under the current conditions, we still consider that there is an opportunity to conduct the voting process on September 17. We maintain this date as the voting day for the election.”

Tong said he had no concerns about voters’ attitude towards participating in the election, despite the grief that the public might be enduring.

“Voters vote according to their own personal will. The commission will always call on voters to exercise their right to vote,” the CAEAL chief said.

Earlier this week, the CAEAL notified a Portuguese newspaper that they would be required to remove an online interview from their website, as it contained an interview with a single election candidate and was considered to be “propaganda.”

“The candidate will have to be [held] responsible and fined [for the interview], and the press needs to delete the article,” said Tong.

The candidate involved in the case has already been forwarded to the Public Security Police (PSP).

The commission head also noted that whoever reads the report would be able to distinguish news from propaganda, further indicating that the report obviously violates the election regulations.

“We respect the freedom of the press. But if the candidate conducts propaganda through this method, we consider it as going against the election regulations,” said Tong.

Until yesterday, the Electoral Affairs Commission received the 54 reports regarding propaganda, with 11 cases forwarded to PSP.