On Saturday afternoon, several members of some of the lists disqualified from the elections spoke to the media during a press conference especially organized for this purpose.
Sulu Sou, Rocky Chan, Scott Chiang, Ng Kuok Cheong, and Paul Chan Wai Chi were among the lists of members who were present at the conference where they expressed their will to appeal the CAEAL decision.
“What is happening [in the elections] jeopardizes not only the candidates’ but also the rights of everyone in Macau,” Chiang said, adding that it is a basic right of anyone being accused of something to know exactly what they are being accused of.
Noting that there is a lot of work to do and very little time left to prepare an appeal, Chiang said it was not possible to do much until today. The CAEAL had not provided the information to the disqualified candidates as of Friday, July 9, as it was after working hours and the administrative services are closed over the weekend. Thus, taking the first step of learning more information about the accusations could only be done from today after 9 a.m.
Chiang added that the law allows an appeal to both the CAEAL and the courts, with the latter to be done no later than July 26.
On the same matter, incumbent lawmaker Sou said that when he decided to fight for a better Macau, he knew that was a daily, around-the-clock job and that his will to continue to do so has not changed.
“I am willing to fight. To me, every day is like the last day. My responsibility is to fight hard every day. Today’s mission is to fight restlessly,” Sou said, adding that he is disappointed with the fact that after 21 years, Macau’s elections have stopped being fair.
Previously, Ng has also expressed the will to appeal the decision, adding that he also has the intention to write a letter to the Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng on the matter.
Ng said that if the decision of disqualifying the candidates, of which he is also a part, is merely administrative, it is possible to explain and appeal — but if the basis of such evaluation is a political decision, then no appeal could be effective.
“We will appeal to the court to explain everything. If this problem is only a technical problem, I think we can completely explain and solve the problem — but if it is a political decision, I don’t think that any appeal can remove [retract] this decision. Maybe it really is a political decision and if so, I will like to have an answer from the Chief Executive to know if this is a political decision by the CE or a political decision from the Central Government,” Ng said, noting that if it is a political decision, this will hurt Macau’s future.
In his turn, Chan said that he plans to appeal the CAEAL decision. The leader of the New Macau Progress Association (APNM) acknowledged that all five candidates from his list have been disqualification from the elections.
“All candidates from our list must be considered eligible and must be able to run in these legislative elections. We do not accept this decision,” Chan said, claiming that he will fight to reverse the decision. RM
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