TUI: ‘Administration would act outside the law’

TUI has rejected the Open Macau Society’s appeal on the civil referendum case, claiming that Macau’s administration would be acting outside the law if it had allowed the Open Macau Society to place polling stations in public areas in order to hold the ballot.
The Portuguese version of the court’s ruling was only released yesterday, almost two days after the Chinese version was published online. Judges said that a civil referendum is an activity that is not addressed by law, although it is not strictly against the law either. It is, therefore, an activity that citizens may undertake; but it is not seen as a right that citizens hold. Therefore, authorities are not obliged to create conditions ensuring that citizens will be able to perform such an activity.
The ruling goes even further to suggest that the public administration does not have an obligation to provide citizens with conditions in which to hold a civil referendum, nor it is allowed by law to create those conditions. The ruling states that Macau’s administration would be acting outside the law if it had authorized the groups’ request.