The National Security Defense Commission (CDSE), an entity created in 2018 with the mission of supporting the Chief Executive (CE) in decision-making on matters related to the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) and in the scope of the defense of the State security, as well as other managerial work, will replace the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) in the task of inspecting and evaluating the eligibility of the candidates submitting applications to run for the post of legislators.
This is one of the six main proposals stated in the amendments aimed at electoral laws, which entered a public consultation process from yesterday until July 29 and was presented yesterday morning in a press conference held by the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ).
While presenting the main proposals for the revision, the director of DSAJ, Leong Weng In, noted that one of the important amendments proposed has to do with the perfecting of the mechanism of evaluation of the eligibility of the candidates for the post of CE, an evaluation mechanism that also extends to the candidates to the AL elections, as well as for the members of the electoral college of the CE.
On this matter, it is proposed that the CDSE replace both the roles of CAEAL, the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive (CAECE), and the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), in this task.
According to the proposal, the CDSE will issue a binding opinion about those that do not gather the requisites, noting that this opinion is final and will not be open to any appeal or review, nor even an appeal to the courts.
Questioned on the topic by the media, Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong said that this change has to do with the facilitation of the process, as he remarked, “CDSE has a lot more resources to make this evaluation and come up with a decision on the eligibility of the candidates.”
Ensure “patriotism” at all times
Another of the changes related to the eligibility evaluation relates to the conversion of the CAECE into a permanent entity that will continuously supervise the eligibility of the members for the college that elects the CE.
Cheong explained that the entity will be able to reevaluate at any point in time the eligibility of a person, even when this person is already in the post.
Additionally, there will be sanctions to be established including temporary bans from exercising the role or reapplying to the post.
On this topic, Cheong gave the example of the neighboring region of Hong Kong where these bans have a duration of five years. Noting that this matter is still open to discussion in the public consultation document that does not set a precise time for the penalties, Cheong said nonetheless that he believes that the duration of the bans “should be of at least one term,” advancing that bans of two or three years “would be unsuitable” as well as the “enforcement of permanent bans, [which] would not be suitable either.”
In the proposal it is stated that a member can lose the eligibility quality when, “during their tenure, and due to proven facts, [he or she][commits acts that] do not defend the Basic Law or are not loyal to the Macau SAR.
The same bans will also apply to those running for the AL, with Cheong hinting that in these cases it should be proposed that the legislator will lose this capacity at least for the whole term and until new elections, having still to pass through the evaluation of the CDSE to be accepted on the following elections.
The Secretary also advanced that he wants to have the public consultation report done as quickly as possible and as soon as the consultation period ends so “opinions collected can be used to perfect the bill immediately and submit it to the AL for approval,” Cheong said, noting that the election for the CE is already next year and the process will already follow the new regulation.
