The Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission Elections (CAEAL) announced on Wednesday the schedule for the by-election of a vacant business-sector seat in the Legislative Assembly, according to a statement by the Government Information Bureau (GCS).
The statement was released after the commission’s first regular meeting. The commission was set up on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the by-election is scheduled to be held on November 24 to fill one of the four indirectly-elected seats of the industrial, commercial and financial sector in the legislature’s hemicycle.
Businessman Ho Iat Seng relinquished his seat on July 5 after announcing his decision to run for chief executive.
Individuals interested in running for the seat can apply to form a nomination committee on their behalf, and the application period runs from today until August 28, the statement said.
According to the statement, CAEAL President Tong Hio Fong said during a press briefing at the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo that the commission would verify the legal validity of the respective nomination committees. The outcome of the verification will be announced by the commission on September 6.
The Legislative Assembly Election Law stipulates that only political associations and nomination committees have the right to nominate candidate lists for the direct and indirect Legislative Assembly elections, the statement noted.
Regarding the indirect elections, the law requires that each nomination committee must be formed by at least 20 per cent of the associations in the respective sector, and the official list of the eligible associations was published at the beginning of this year, the statement said.
The statement noted that according to that list, 107 associations are currently registered under the industrial, commercial and financial sector. Consequently, according to the statement, each nomination committees must contain at least 21 associations in order to be able to nominate a candidate for the by-election.
Regarding the by-election budget, Tong told reporters after Wednesday’s closed-door meeting that the commission would strive to spend “moderately” by using materials and equipment from previous elections and by providing a smaller number of election campaign promotion venues than in previous by-elections, the statement said.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Tong told reporters that based on the schedule for the by-election, the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) would confirm no later than December 10 the result of the by-election and publish it in the local Official Gazette (BO), the statement said.
After the press briefing, the commission released the schedule for the different phases of the by-election, which can be downloaded from the CAEAL website.
According to the schedule, the commission will publish the provisional list of candidates on September 19 and reconfirm the final list of candidates on September 26, which will be published on the same day.
According to the schedule, the commission will release the locations of the polling stations on September 20. The number of polling stations has still to be announced.
The campaign period for the candidates runs from November 9 to November 22.
The Ballot Tabulation Assembly (AAG) will announce the election result on November 25.
