Prominent casino labour activist Cloee Chao Sao Fong is the prime candidate of the New Macao Gaming List in September’s Legislative Assembly direct election.
Chao presented her group’s candidates and political programme to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) yesterday.
Chao failed in her bid for a directly-elected seat in the legislature’s hemicycle four years ago, when her list garnered 3,126 votes.
Chao said that her List’s election campaign would be focused on the rights and benefits of the gaming sector’s 56,000-plus employees. She acknowledged that due to “strong competition” among the 19 rival Lists it would be “very difficult” for her List to win one of the 14 directly-elected seats.
The 14 seats are elected by universal suffrage, based on proportional representation, The Macau Post Daily reported.
In related news, two more Lists submitted their candidates and political programmes to the commission yesterday.
The Joint Candidacy Committee of the Employees Associations fielded the same first- and second-ranked candidates as four years ago, trade unionists Lam Lon Wai and Lei Chan U. As there is no rival List, Lam and Lei are the only candidates for the labour sector’s two indirectly-elected seats, so both will run unopposed.
Lam said that their List would be focused on protecting labour rights and promoting economic development in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, apart from calling for strengthening occupational training and professional certification procedures. Lam and Lei are senior members of the influential Macao Federation of Trade Unions, which is generally known as Gung Luen.
The Rising Sun Cultural and Sports Union is the only List for the two seats reserved for the cultural and sports sector in the legislature. The List’s two candidates are restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo and casino executive Angela Leong On Kei. While Chan is an incumbent indirectly-elected lawmaker, Leong has been a directly-elected legislator since 2005.
Leong is replacing octogenarian businessman Cheung Lup Kwan who is retiring.
Chan said that he aimed to further promote Macao’s international role in the area of sports and culture, while Leong said she hoped that Macao could organise more sports and cultural events in the future. Chan and Leong will also run unopposed.
Macao’s 12 indirectly-elected members of the legislature are elected by association representatives.
Following the direct and indirect elections on 12 September, the chief executive will appoint seven lawmakers.
Some 42.4 per cent of the legislature’s 33 members are directly elected, 36.4 per cent are indirectly elected and 21.2 per cent are appointed by the chief executive.
