Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) President Tong Hio Fong reaffirmed yesterday that as in the past each voter can only back the nomination of one list for the legislature’s direct election and one list for the indirect election, which both will be held on September 12.
However, Tong also said for this year’s direct election, each voter who backs the nomination of a particular candidacy list will be required to express his support for the list by signing an individual-piece-of-paper which will be attached to the respective list’s nomination-committee application form, a change from the 2017 election procedures when a number of sheets of paper contained the collective signatures of a number of voters who supported the respective candidacy list’s nomination.
Tong said that the individual-piece-of-paper change concerning this year’s direct election aims to ensure that voters will be fully aware that they are signing a paper in support of the nomination of a particular candidacy list.
Tong made the remarks while speaking to reporters after chairing a regular closed-door meeting of the commission at the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo.
The 33-member legislature comprises 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats and seven government-appointed seats. While 14 lawmakers are elected by universal suffrage, 12 are elected by registered association representatives. The remainder are appointed by the chief executive shortly after the elections.
Last week, the commission started to distribute application forms for those wishing to establish nomination committees on behalf of those seeking to run in the elections. The deadline for the nomination-committee applications is June 15.
Each registered voter is entitled to endorse the nomination committee of just one candidacy list.
According to the Legislative Assembly Election Law, only political associations and nomination committees have the right to nominate candidacy lists for the direct-election process.
For directly-elected seats, a nomination committee shall contain at least 300 and no more than 500 registered voters. Regarding the indirect election, each nomination committee must be formed by at least 20 percent of the associations in the respective functional constituency.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Tong said that different from the direct election in 2017 in which multiple voters in support of the nomination of a particular candidacy list put their signatures collectively on a number of sheets of paper which attached to the nomination committee application form, for this year’s direct election each voter will be required to put his or her signature on an individual-piece-of-paper, which will be attached to the nomination-committee application form.
For this year’s direct election, each voter will have to sign an individual-piece-of-paper confirming that he or she understands that they are only allowed to support the nomination of one candidacy list, according to Tong.
Tong said that in previous direct elections, some voters were not aware that they were signing a paper in support of the nomination of a particular candidacy list as someone falsely told them that they were signing a paper to apply for certain welfare benefits.
Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) President Tong Hio Fong (centre) briefs reporters yesterday after a closed-door meeting of the commission at the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo, as fellow commission members Inês Chan Lou (first from left), José Maria da Fonseca Tavares (second from left), Lai U Hou (second from right) and Kou Peng Kuan look on. Photo: GCS
