The Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission started Thursday two days of mock voting for the members of the Chief Executive Election Committee, according to a statement by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS).
The statement pointed out that the mock ballot is open to members of the public.
Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission President Song Man Lei and her four fellow members of the commission yesterday inspected a mock polling station set up at the Macau Forum complex in Zape.
The statement underlined that the mock polling station are open to the public from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. today.
The election of most of the members of the Chief Executive Election Committee will take place on Sunday.
According to the statement, Song underlined that voters must follow the law and regulations, pointing out that according to the law voters are not allowed to disclose their voting intention at or within 100 metres from a polling station.
Song told reporters after her inspection tour that this time 569 associations will be represented by more than 5,700 voters.
Song reminded voters that they must show their local ID card and credentials to prove that they have the right to cast their ballot on Sunday.
According to the statement, there are three polling stations – on the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) campus for the industrial, commercial and financial sector, as well as the education subsector; at the Macau Forum complex for the professional, sports and social services subsectors; and at the Luso-Chinese Vocational School for the cultural and labour subsectors.
Song reminded voters that they can only vote in their respective sectors or subsectors, adding that voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Song urged voters to carry out their right to vote, adding that the counting of the votes would be finished as quickly as possible.
The Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission has put up posters to remind voters that they are not allowed use mobile phones, cameras or similar electronic devices at the polling stations or voting booths.
Voters must use the pens provided by the Electoral Affairs Commission when casting their ballots. Voters can ask polling station officials for a new ballot if they make a mistake.
According to previous announcements by the commission and media reports, there are 350 candidates for 344 seats at stake.
The education and labour subsectors are the only ones where the number of seats available and the number of candidates are not identical. In the education subsector, there are two more candidates than seats at stake. In the labour subsector, the number of candidates exceeds the number of seats available by four.
The remaining 56 members of the committee are not elected on Sunday as they are chosen by their peers (such as the members of the Legislative Assembly), are ex-officio members (Macau’s 12 deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC), or are appointed by the religious sector.
As Legislative Assembly President Ho Iat Seng has recently resigned from the NPC, Macau’s first-ranked alternate NPC deputy Kevin Ho King Lun is set to become a member of the Chief Executive Election Committee. Ho Iat Seng needed to resign from the NPC so that he could launch his chief executive candidacy. In Chinese, the surnames of Kevin Ho and Ho Iat Seng are not the same. Kevin Ho has not yet been appointed to the NPC.
According to the law, Kevin Ho could formalise his membership of the Chief Executive Election Committee up to three days before the election of Macau’s new chief executive takes place. Kevin Ho is a nephew of Macau’s first chief executive, Edmund Ho Hau Wah.
Central government officials have said the chief executive election was slated to be held in August. The new chief executive will be sworn in on December 20.(Macaunews)
