Further amendments to electoral system proposed in second Five-year Plan

In the second Five-year Plan published by the government yesterday, a section was dedicated to further amendments to the electoral system, including but not limited to the conditions of oath taking.

This Five-year Plan covers the years from 2021 to 2025.

The plan stated that the government will further change the election system to ensure that “Macau is governed by patriots”.

“The Special Administrative Region Government resolutely safeguards the Central People’s Government’s rights of decision to [Macau’s] political system, which includes the election system, and implements the foundational principle of ‘Patriots governing Macau’,” it stated.

To achieve this, the government said it will systemize “the positive and negative lists of pledging allegiance, [and] the relevant mechanism for qualification review and regulate occupational activities of legislators, so as to guarantee the rights of governance of Macau are firmly held by patriots.”

It also said that it would “nurture a healthy election culture and continuously improve the quality of democratic election.” Moreover, it will “lawfully complete various elections and ensure their fair, just, open and clean implementation.”

The government admits that public opinion is not consulted very effectively and that the advisory bodies are inefficient. It stated that it would therefore improve the system for the consultation of public opinion, along with reviewing the functions and structures of the many advisory bodies. It added that it would “strengthen public participation” in these advisory bodies.

The government stressed that it would nonetheless strengthen the roles of “patriotic associations.”

Years ago, when the government restructured the then Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), it declined to add election of advisory members to the charter of the new Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM). The public expressed concerns at the time that the advisory members of the IAM would not speak in the public interest, subverting the purpose of the advisory board.

Despite its stated aims, the government has not detailed how it will achieve these goals.

Further, according to the plan, the city will have consolidated its position as a global tourism and recreational centre, and expanded its position as a service platform for business and trade cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Portuguese-speaking countries. By 2025, it will also steadily advance the construction of a base for exchange and cooperation with Chinese culture as the mainstream, co-existing with multiple cultures.

The SAR aims to make substantial progress in the areas of: appropriate economic diversification and better governance; greater cultural prosperity; continuous improvement of people’s livelihood; better integration into the country’s overall development; and the further improvement of the legal system and enforcement mechanism on safeguarding national security.

The SAR government publicly solicited opinions on the plan from mid-September to November, collecting over 3,000 opinions and adopting those with wide public support.