Ho Iat Seng, the sole candidate for 2019, was elected on August 25, with 392 votes out of 400 EC members – seven blank and one null. But at the end of May, when Lionel Leong was still in the running, several sources said that the choice had already been made. This year, the doubt remains, and it won’t be until August 11 that the EC takes office, with the election of the Chief Executive pushed to October – at least 60 days later, according to the law.
Some explain this timetable by the fact that the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party, which defines China’s broad economic and political lines, only took place in mid-July; a delay of around nine months. Perhaps, say the same sources, because “Xi Jinping was still looking for consensus following his third term in office and the effects of the Covid-zero policy”. On April 8, when she was reappointed as CAECE president, Song Man Lei, a judge at the Court of Final Appeal, considered that there was “no delay”, but rather a “slight postponement in the timetable”.
Electoral Law No. 3/2004, which emanates from the Legislative Assembly, was republished on December 28, 2023, by order of Ho Iat Seng, as amended by Laws Nos. 11/2012, 13/2018 and 20/2023. It states that the CAECE, with a five-year renewable term, must be chaired by a “judge with a rank no lower than the Court of Appeal”; and has four members, permanent residents, who have sworn to defend and enforce “the Basic Law”, with “loyalty to the Macao SAR of the People’s Republic of China”. All decisions are taken in plenary session, with the president having the casting vote. There is also a Secretariat, with no voting rights, made up of a secretary-general (the SAFP Board), and 15 members appointed from among SAFP managers and other public administration workers.
The process of choosing the 400 members of the EC is almost complete, with 348 eligible names, a third of whom are first-timers (120). All have sworn in writing to uphold the Basic Law and to be loyal to the Macau SAR of the PRC, as required by law. Therefore, with no complaints or impediments, only four will be left out. Another six, from the religion sub-sector, have also submitted a proposal, making a total of 350 names. The remaining 50 are inherently from the so-called 4th sector: 22 deputies to the Legislative Assembly; 12 Macau deputies to the National People’s Assembly; 14 Macau representatives on the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; and 2 representatives of the municipal body.
The 350 are elected in a corporative process, by sector, and this year there were 6,200 eligible voters – in 2019 there were 5,700. The process, organized and monitored by the CAECE, follows the legal proportion: 120 from the 1st sector (industrial, commercial and financial); 115 from the 2nd sector, which includes four sub-sectors (26 from cultural; 29 from educational; 43 from professional; and 17 from sports); 115 from the 3rd sector (59 from labour; 50 from social services; and six from religious associations). The CAECE checks their electoral capacity and only then opens nominations for Chief Executive – no date has yet been set.
The last amendment made to the Electoral Law, in December 2023, mainly clarifies obedience to national laws and the First System, in sensitive matters such as “territorial unity” and “national security”.
The Law gives the CAECE powers to verify each of the proposals to the EC, and to the Chief Executive. “Whether they uphold the Basic Law and are loyal to the Macao SAR of the PRC; whether they respect the Constitution of the PRC by not organizing or participating in activities with the intention of overthrowing or undermining the fundamental system of the state; whether they uphold unity and territorial integrity by not engaging in acts that endanger them; whether they have not colluded with anti-China organizations, associations or individuals outside the Macao SAR to infiltrate the organs of power of the Macao SAR by not participating in training activities organized by these entities or receiving financial support from them; they respect the political system enshrined in the Chinese Constitution and Basic Law, and do not maliciously attack, denigrate, slander or outrage the PRC or the MSAR; they respect the powers of the NPA and its Standing Committee, and do not maliciously attack, denigrate, slander or outrage the laws, interpretations or decisions approved by the National People’s Assembly and its Standing Committee; they have not committed acts against national sovereignty and security, or against state security; they have not aided or abetted the commission of prohibited acts in any way, nor have they affirmed support for any acts that do not uphold the Basic Law or are not faithful to the Macao SAR of the PRC”. The last amendment makes it clear that “anyone who, in the year of candidacy, or in the previous five calendar years, has been deemed, in accordance with the law, not to uphold the Basic Law or not to be loyal to the Macao SAR of the PRC, shall not be allowed to run for office”.
The Chief Executive’s term of office is five years, with only one reappointment allowed. Candidates must “be a Chinese citizen and a permanent resident; they must not have the right of residence in a foreign country or, if they do, they must undertake to give it up before the date of taking office; they must be at least 40 years old; they must have been habitually resident in Macau for 20 consecutive years; they must be registered in the last census roll; and they must not be covered by any electoral incapacity”. Candidates appear “in their individual names” and undertake “not to participate in any political association during their term of office”. Interested parties request support through representatives or candidacy organizations; and only “once the signatures of at least 66 members of the EC have been affixed,” does the CAECE then proceed to verify their admissibility. Any decision that a candidate does not meet the legal requirements “cannot be appealed against or contested”.
Once this process is over, the electoral campaign begins, with the CAECE organizing “at least once for each candidate, a session to present the political programmes and provide clarification, inviting all the members of the EC”. The campaign “begins on the fifteenth day before the election and ends at midnight on the day before the election”, which is “obligatorily held on a Sunday and must be concluded on the same day”. The candidate with “a number of votes greater than half the total number of EC members is immediately elected”.
When, last week, Jorge Chiang stated his intention to run, Song Man Lei considered it “too early” to comment, explaining that he “didn’t know if the information was true”, and that the electoral process has not yet reached the stage of submitting candidacies.
