The Democratic Prosperous Macau Association (APMD) list yesterday submitted its list of candidates and political platform to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) for the upcoming direct legislative election.
The association’s list comprises five candidates for the upcoming direct election. It first-ranked candidate is high-profile political activist Scott Chiang Meng Hin, while the second-ranked candidate is veteran lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong. Chiang will run in the direct election for the first time.
According to Macau’s proportional representation system, a list’s number-one candidate has the best chance of winning a seat. The number-two candidate’s chance of getting elected is much lower. The lower ranked a candidate is on the respective group’s list the lower his or her chance of winning a seat is.
The third-, fourth- and fifth-ranked candidates of the list are Luis Leong Pok Man, Chau Iao On and Kong Shun Mei respectively. Kong is Ng’s wife.
In the 2017 direct election, the Democratic Prosperous Macau Association list comprised six candidates. Four years ago, Ng was the first-ranked candidate, while Leong, Chau and Kong were the second-, fifth- and sixth-ranked candidates. The first-ranked candidate of the list was elected in the 2017 direct election – Ng.
Speaking to reporters at the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo after submitting the list of candidates and political platform, Chiang said that his electoral list would focus on issues such as post-pandemic economic recovery, measures helping residents to keep their jobs, and how to ensure that the drafting of Macau’s future urban master plan will protect public interest and the city’s cultural historic value.
According to Chiang, his list’s political platform calls for Macau’s education to ensure all-round development of the next generation. Chiang said he believes that old-fashioned education ideas should be discarded, adding that secondary schools should strengthen their pupils’ ability for critical thinking and logic analysis.
In addition to the Democratic Prosperous Macau Association electoral list, at least three other lists which are generally regarded as belonging to the non-establishment camp will take part in the upcoming direct election, namely the New Macau Progressives headed by current lawmaker Sulu Sou Ka Hou, the New Macau Progressive Association with former lawmaker Paul Chan Wai Chi as a candidate, and the New Hope headed by current lawmaker José Maria Pereira Coutinho.
Chiang did not mention how many seats his electoral list is aiming to win, just saying that his list will try its best. Chiang said that the number of electoral lists from the non-establishment camp competing in the direct election each time had been similar during previous direct elections. Chiang said that “it is not a bad thing” that different lists under the non-establishment camp vie for seats in the direct election.
Chiang also said that the non-establishment camp has always been saying that the current system of the chief executive election is not representative. Chiang also said that according to the requirements of the Macau Basic Law, the majority of local lawmakers could be chosen through elections. He insisted that all these possible improvements to the city’s election systems would be beneficial to civil society as a whole.
The 33-member Macau Legislative Assembly (AL) comprises 14 deputies directly elected by universal suffrage, 12 deputies indirectly elected by association representatives and seven deputies appointed by the chief executive after the direct and indirect elections.
Current lawmakers Ng Kuok Cheong (second from right), Au Kam San (second from left), and three candidates of the Democratic Prosperous Macau Association list, Scott Chiang Meng Hin (centre), Luis Leong Pok Man (first from right) and Kong Shun Mei pose with slogans yesterday at the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo. Au will not run in the upcoming direct election, while Ng is a candidate of the electoral list, which comprise five candidates. Photo: MPDG
