In a meeting of the legislature’s 2nd Standing Committee on Thursday, lawmakers questioned some of the proposed amendments to the Legislative Assembly Election Law, according to lawmaker-cum-restaurateur Chan Chak Mo, who chairs the committee.
Chan briefed reporters after a closed-door meeting, which no government officials attended, in the legislative chamber.
Customarily, the meetings of the legislature’s standing committees are held behind closed doors. Usually, the committee presidents brief the media afterwards.
Thursday’s meeting was the third committee-level meeting on the bill after its outline was passed by a plenary session of the legislature in August.
The current Legislative Assembly Election Law states that election campaigns are carried out by the candidates and the members of the nominating committee for a particular election group.
One of the proposed amendments is the introduction of officially registered “election campaign supporters” to help in the election campaigns, in addition to the respective group’s candidates and members of the nominating committee.
The government proposes in the bill that each election group can have a maximum of 300 officially registered election campaign supporters.
The government also proposes in the bill that after a permanent resident is registered as an election campaign supporter, he or she can only be allowed to help in the election campaign of one election group.
Some committee members questioned if 300 officially registered election campaign supporters are enough for an election group, according to Chan.
Not only individuals but also companies and associations are allowed to be registered as election campaign supporters, according to the bill.
Some lawmakers gave the example in which one association has set up two election groups but each officially registered election campaign supporter is only allowed to help in the campaign of one election group, according to Chan.
The committee members asked the government to explain the proposed amendments more clearly in future meetings, Chan said.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
