The majority of the opinions from the first of the 10 consultation sessions that the government hosted Thursday to gather public views on its proposal for the city’s political development showed that its so-called “+2+2” option, which means two more directly and two more indirectly-elected seats in the legislature while the current number of government-appointed lawmakers would remain unchanged, appears to be gaining popular support.
According to The Macau Post Daily today, about 110 representatives from several civil service associations, the legal fraternity and the government-appointed consultation committees under the portfolio of Secretary for Administration and Justice Florinda Chan Lai Man were present at last night’s 1 1/2-hour session held at the Macau Tourism Activities Centre (CAT) in Zape. Chan also attended the meeting.
According to the government’s proposal for next year’s legislative election, there are three options available for the possible changes in the number of members of the Legislative Assembly (AL): firstly, +2+2, which means two more directly and two more indirectly-elected seats while the current number of government-appointed lawmakers would remain unchanged; secondly, +1 +1, which means one more directly and indirectly-elected seat each while the current number of government-appointed lawmakers would remain unchanged; thirdly, other scenarios to be proposed by citizens during the current consultation drive.
A total of 20 of the over 100 participants gave their views on the government proposal. Most of them said that they supported the government’s “+2+2” option.
However, civil service unionist-cum-lawmaker Jose Pereira Coutinho called for four more directly-elected seats by cutting four of the government-appointed lawmakers while the current number of lawmakers would remain intact.
According to the government’s +2+2 proposal, the professional sector would get one more indirectly-elected lawmaker, thereby increasing its number to three, while the social services, culture, education and sports sector would also get one more indirectly-elected seat, which would raise its number to three as well.
Currently there are total 29 lawmakers in the legislature, comprising 12 directly-elected, 10 indirectly-elected and seven government-appointed members.(macaunews)
