Elections 2021 | CAEAL rejects appeals from disqualified groups

Three lists that were disqualified by the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) have had their administrative appeals rejected by the authority.
The three lists include Democracy Prospers Macau, led by advocate Scott Chiang; New Macau Progressives, led by lawmaker Sulu Sou; as well as New Macau Progressive Association, led by former full-attendance lawmaker Paul Chan Wai Chi.
These leaders, together with 19 other candidates, have been accused by CAEAL of not upholding the Macau Basic Law and of disloyalty to the Macau Special Administrative Region, citing actual examples.
The three lists have the rights to file judicial appeals to the highest court by the end of the day.
The remaining 19 candidates were from three other lists, namely Gaming New Macau, Macau Justice and Macau Victory. They have all decided to withdraw from this year’s election due to various reasons, chief of which being a lack of eligible candidates following CAEAL’s disqualifications.
In addition, the CAEAL issued a statement yesterday to announce and justify its decision. “After analysis, CAEAL considered the respective claims [by the applicant lists] unfounded and that there is sufficient evidence that the candidates in question practiced acts that do not uphold the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China or are not faithful to the Special Administrative Region of Macau of the People’s Republic of China,” the CAEAL reiterated in the statement. “Therefore, the three appeals were rejected by CAEAL.”
Meanwhile, the CAEAL said that it had notified the three trustees of the lists of the decision. The updated – or “finalized,” as the CAEAL puts it – pool of all lists accepted by CAEAL was also posted yesterday at the lobby of the Public Administration Building.
After the disqualification, this year’s election will only see 128 candidates from 14 lists standing for direct election, as well as 12 candidates from five lists standing for indirect election. AL

Portuguese diplomats closely following election disqualifications

Portuguese diplomats in Macau, Beijing, and Portugal itself are closely following the case of the disqualification of candidates to the Legislative Assembly (AL) elections by the Legislative Assembly’s Electoral Affairs Committee (CAEAL), the Ambassador of Portugal in Beijing, José Augusto Duarte said.
Duarte’s comments came on the sidelines of a meeting of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries – Macau held on Tuesday.
Questioned by the media on the subject, Duarte declined to comment on the political situation, claiming that it was not the right context to approach the matter.
Still, he said, “What I can say is that there is no doubt that this is a matter that has been followed closely in Lisbon, by the Portuguese authorities, as well as in Beijing and Macau, but there are proper contexts to approach the matter.”
A total of 21 candidates in six groups were disqualified by CAEAL on July 9 due to “factual evidence” proving that they neither support Macau’s Basic Law nor are loyal to the Macau SAR region. RM