Macau Civic Power (ECM) Chairwoman Agnes Lam lok Fong submitted 500 registered voters’ signatures endorsing her group’s candidacy in the upcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Committee Monday (CAEAL).
The direct and indirect legislative elections will take place on Sunday, September 17.
Lam’s list is called Civic Watch.
Speaking to reporters at the Public Administration Building, Lam, the assistant dean of the University of Macau’s (UM) Faculty of Social Sciences, said she was the top-ranked candidate, adding her list would consist of five to six candidates. She did not reveal her fellow candidates’ names.
According to the city’s proportional representation election sys¬tem, a group’s top-ranked candidate has the best chance of winning a seat.
According to Lam, her group has submitted 500 nomination signatures.
The officially required maximum is 500 signatures of registered voters while the minimum number is 300. Each registered voter can only endorse one group.
Lam is a local deputy to the Chinese People’s Political Consulta¬tive Conference (CPPCC) in Hebei province. She is a one-time journalist who now teaches journalism and communication.
Lam’s list obtained about 5,000 votes in each of the last two elections, which was not enough to win a seat. Pointing out that this will be the third time she is running in the election, Lam said her group had reviewed its proposals in its past election platforms, adding this time her group would propose some policies “more feasible and acceptable to the public”.
According to The Macau Post Daily she said her group would also focus on the city’s “minorities”, adding her list’s platform would include measures which her group “considers important but not many people realise how important the measures are”.
She declined to elaborate on her definition of “minorities”.
“We’ve been seeing all those kinds of problems (in society) that have been unresolved and there are new problems we are encountering now. There’s a linkage between every problem.” Lam said.
Over 20 groups have already submitted their candidacy nomination signatures. The deadline for submitting nomination applications is late this afternon.
While 14 seats in the legislature will be directly elected by popular vote, 12 will be indirectly elected by association representatives and seven will be appointed by the chief executive after the elections.
