Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai has urged local voters today to cast their ballots in Sunday’s Legislative Assembly election, pointing out that voting is not only residents’ right but also their civic duty.
Speaking to the media while inspecting the Tap Seac Multi-Sports Pavilion polling station, Sam said that voters should participate in the Legislative Assembly election, “fulfilling their voting obligations and being supporters and practitioners, rather than mere observers.”
The chief executive also inspected a polling station set up at Kao Ip Middle School in Nape.
Sam also said that the Legislative Assembly election is a very important political event for the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), adding that Sunday’s election is particularly significant as it is the first since last year's amendments to the Legislative Assembly Election Law, aimed at further consolidating the principle of "patriots governing Macau."
He noted that this year’s direct election list of six candidacy groups is broadly representative, with 71 candidates from various sectors and professional fields within civil society. Furthermore, Sam stated that the six groups have conducted their election campaigns lawfully and in an orderly manner, engaging in healthy competition for the legislature’s 14 directly elected seats at stake.
The election will be held between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunday. Provisional election results are expected to be released early on Monday.
By law, the election campaign ends at midnight today. No campaigning is allowed tomorrow, in order to give voters a "day of reflection" on their electoral choice, and campaigning is also not permitted on polling day.
Sam was accompanied on his inspection tour of two of Macau’s 38 polling stations by Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon and Seng Ioi Man, president of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL), as well as other CAEAL members.
Apart from the direct election by universal suffrage of 14 lawmakers, another 12 legislators will be elected by community, business, labour, education, sports and other assocation representatives on Sunday, while seven members of the Legislative Assembly will be appointed by Sam some time after the direct and indirect elections.
Macau uses the proportional representation system. Electors vote for candidacy groups, not individual candidates. There are nearly 20 candidates per directly elected seat.
There are around 330,000 registered voters among Macau’s population of 686,000 (as of the end of June). Permanent residents have the right to vote, irrespective of nationality and place of birth. The minimum age for both voters and candidates is 18.
Voter turnout in 2021 was 42.38 per cent. Legislative Assembly elections are held every four years. By law, they must take place on a Sunday.
Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai speaks to the media during an inspection tour this afternoon of a polling station set up at the Tap Seac Multi-Sports Pavilion on the Macau Peninsula for Sunday's Legislative Assembly (AL) elections. - Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
