Legislative Assembly By-election budget set at MOP3.28 million

On Wednesday, the Electoral Affairs Committee for the Legislative Assembly By- election held a meeting to decide on the budget for the election.

The election will decide the replacement seat for Chief Executive candidate Ho Iat Seng, who formerly represented the commerce sector.

Committee president Tong Hio Fong spoke at a post-meeting press conference, saying that the budget had been set at MOP3.28 million, which amounts to about 6% of the last legislative election.

As introduced by Tong, who cited information from the committee’s secretariat, the budget will be used for printing posters, broadcasting promotional videos on various news channels, training workers, partitioning voting stations, as well as printing ballots and manifestos. Tong stressed that his committee will abide by the principle of frugality.

Meanwhile, Tong also noted that in the previous legislative election, some candidates had surpluses in their election spending. He pointed out that after discussion, the committee would try to request in the form of election guidelines that candidates donate any surplus to charities. Currently, there is no legal provision as to how the surpluses should be treated.

Interested parties should submit their nominations by August 28. AL