Incumbent pro-democracy lawmaker, José Pereira Coutinho, will be running as a directly-elected candidate in the Legislative Assembly election on 14 September.
As the head of the political party, New Hope, the 67-year-old submitted his organisation’s candidates list and political platform yesterday, nominating a total of 11 individuals. They include Coutinho and civil servant Chan Hao Weng as the first and second candidates.
Conspicuously absent from the list was Rita Santos, Coutinho’s long standing political partner and the president of the General Assembly of the Macau Civil Servants Association (known by its Portuguese initials ATFPM).
According to Chinese-language media, Santos, who was present at yesterday’s list and manifesto submission, had announced her intention to run in the election last year. However, in a Portuguese-language video posted on Facebook yesterday, the Macanese community activist explained that she would not seek candidacy, as she wished to spend more time with her family.
In the video, the ATFPM president said that her 10-year-old grandson, along with her ten siblings, had “been complaining that I [hadn’t] been spending enough time with them.”
Speculation has, however, abounded over whether or not Santo’s decision is connected with an ongoing case involving individuals in Macao who are suspected of violating Portuguese election law.
Last Wednesday, the Macao Public Prosecution Office announced that it was assisting the Portuguese authorities in the investigation of this case, which concerns alleged Macao-based interference in last year’s Portugal legislative election.
[See more: Macao parties have begun submitting candidates for the legislative election]
When asked about this matter yesterday, Coutinho maintained that Santos’ withdrawal was not connected to the ongoing election case. He added that the Public Prosecution Office had not contacted the ATFPM about the case.
Coutinho also spoke about his party’s goals, which will revolve around issues such as youth employment, education, social welfare benefits and the boosting of sports facilities.
In terms of social welfare benefits, the pro-democracy lawmaker is calling on the government to offer free tertiary education to locals and raise the Wealth Partaking Scheme amount for permanent residents from 10,000 patacas to 15,000 patacas.
Coutinho’s candidacy is significant, as he is only one of the few, if not the only remaining, pro-democracy lawmakers to still hold office in Macao, having served in the legislature since 2005.
New Hope was the second to last nomination committee to submit its election documents. Earlier today, the Macau-Guangdong Union made its submission, meaning that all 8 of the eligible organisations have fielded candidates. In total, the union nominated 14 candidates, including Lao Chi Ngai and Lei Koi Ian as its first and second ranking candidates.
The upcoming direct Legislative Assembly Election will see the lowest number of political parties participating – a far cry in comparison to the 2021 edition, which featured 19 organisations.
