Third time’s the charm: Lam confident of winning AL seat

Agnes Lam’s Civil Watch list is once more running for a seat at the Legislative Assembly (AL).

Lam, who is heading the group for the third time in a row, is confident that she will finally be elected, granting her a seat in the local parliament.

“I’m expecting that, I hope [it happens] and I’m trying my very best to get the seat this time,” Lam said.

“We have evaluated what we did wrong and what we did right before and we came up with what I hope would be a better strategy,” she said yesterday afternoon on the sidelines of the official presentation of the candidacy list at the Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) office.

Lam stated that the Civil Watch list will focus on the population’s major concerns – namely, common issues such as housing, transport and education – in order to attract more voters.

She added that in previous elections, her list had launched discussions about animal rights, as well as housing issues such as rent control and domestic violence. These gained support and entered the public eye.

Part of the list’s strategy is to continue discussing issues that can gain momentum to “promote changes in the society” and not just “see who the voters are and find a topic that is [of] their own interest.”

“[This idea of] pushing our own agenda into something that everyone would think is important is our goal and I want to get the seat through this,” Lam said.

The list includes five or six members (the uncertainty is due to an unreleased decision regarding a leave authorization of one member) and will include people such as “professionals [from different fields], cultural industries people, and one representative of the minorities,” she stated, without going into more detail on the members and their backgrounds.

Unlike last election, when Agnes Lam ran alongside architect Rui Leão, this list will not feature a member of the Portuguese community.

Questioned on the exact nature of the topics the Civil Watch list will discuss, Lam said she could not disclose her political platform, which will be revealed in August. “I don’t know how much I can release now because the law is not very clear.” Nevertheless, she put forward some topics: “We have several basic areas that we will be focusing in such as housing, public transportation, the medical system, education, minorities and environmental protection. These will be more or less our key focus [areas].”