Rear Window | Hard to call it an election

Severo Portela

Apparently, the slow boat that will take Ho Iat Seng to replace CE Chui Sai On at the end of the year has set sail smoothly and will go on quietly indifferent to the certainties of local politics: a reverse analogy to the moody meteorological summer. The paradox is that the easier Ho´s run to the top job is, the harder it will be to call the process an election. 

Even the pro-democracy liberal representative sectors came to shy away from universal suffrage as an immediate target to accommodate the more gradualist approach of the Basic Law. Legislator Sulu Sou set a softer strategy to progressively add democratic elements to the electoral system…within the system and its red lines. In the name of dialogue and reciprocity Sou tried to put on the table for public consideration (via the Legislative Assembly) some democratic boundary lines of sorts: it is unacceptable to have uncontested elections for the top job.

The discomfort with the solo runner option is growing and spreading despite the efforts from conservative spinners who have been dressing the confirmation procedure with a mantra: it has historic, not to say scientific, roots. Or worse, as a deflating slogan: it is not unusual for CE candidates to run unopposed!

But discomfort is growing, indeed. Legislator Pereira Coutinho – himself an assumed whistle-blower against the go-alone Chief Executive fait accompli – is claiming that at least at the level of the small-circle college of the 400 representatives there will be what Coutinho wisely calls an “opportunity” to discuss the political program before the actual voting. Coutinho points inclusively to the opportunity as an instance to provide input, albeit increasing the political legitimacy of the small-circle procedure. If not, “the already limited election would not be more than a farce”.

The weakening paradox we mention above becomes even more perverse when we consider the overwhelming benefits solo-runners get from small-circle events. Not only is the small-circle seen to avoid disagreement let alone dissent, the candidate is seen to be approved by an overwhelming suffrage of voters that all resemble each other.

Understandably, candidate Ho Iat Seng is yet to elaborate upon a political program or offer a comprehensive platform other than a two-pointer objective to improve the population’s livelihood and to promote the integration of Macau into the Greater Bay Area. Again, candidate Ho is wise to restrict himself to general issues while crafting what platform he has in mind, although the absence of an allusion to the core casino business could be mistaken for dislocated modesty.

Albeit any administrative or government inexperience the political heavyweight Ho Iat Seng might have could be reason enough to look for a more experienced alternative, all are set to support him. The Mak Soi Kun quiz runs like this: who is he referring to when he says that the population does not want Macau to have rulers who apologize? Perhaps the time is not right for MSAR to have its own Carrie Lam.

Finally, I highlight the heavy sentencing of the Occupy Movement’s front trio and the second drive Belt and Road Initiative is taking to face new realities of debt.