The Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission Election (CAEAL) has confirmed that there is only one nominated candidate for the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) by-election. The by-election is related to a seat allocated to the industrial, commercial and financial sector, under the indirect-election portion of the electoral system.
The commission reported on Friday that it had already approved the nomination of the candidate.
The candidate is Wong Chi Meng, a member of the Standing Committee of Directors of Macao Chamber of Commerce (ACM), who was recommended by the Macau Union of Employers’ Interests (OMKC).
The candidate is required to submit his political platform before September 17.
According to the Macau Daily Times, ninety-six legal persons out of the 107 with nomination rights have nominated Wong, who will be the sole candidate for the by-election as a result of the number of nominations he received. According to Macau’s law, a candidate must collect 20% of the nominations from the 107 legal persons’ to be a by-election candidate.
Each of the 107 legal-person voters has the right to submit a maximum list of 22 persons to vote on their behalf. This means that the number of voters eligible for the by-election would depend on the number of voters decided by each legal-person voter.
The number of voters will only be decided on September 17.
Commenting on this one-man election, CAEAL president Tong Hio Fong remarked that a “direct election certainly poses greater competition when compared to an indirect election.”
The AL by-election, which will fill the vacancy left by Chief Executive-elect Ho Iat Seng, has been set for November 24 at Macau Forum. Voting for the by-election will be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the day of polling, as stipulated by the law.
