Representatives of the Macau-Guangdong Union (UMG) list submitted about 500 registered voters’ signatures endorsing the group’s candidacy in the upcoming direct legislative election to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) yesterday.
The direct and indirect legislative elections will take place on September 14.
The officially required maximum is 500 signatures of registered voters while the minimum number is 300. Each registered voter can only endorse one candidacy list.
The Macau-Guangdong Union ran in the legislature’s direct election four years ago when 14 candidacy lists vied for the 14 seats at stake.
In the 2021 direct election, two candidates of the Macau-Guangdong Union list were elected – current lawmakers Zheng Anting and Lo Choi In. Both are senior board members of the Macau Jiangmen Communal Society.
Jiangmen City lies some 65 km northwest of Macau. Thousands of Macau families originate from Jiangmen.
Speaking to reporters at the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo after submitting the signatures yesterday, Chan Sio Cheng, the chairman of the Macau Jiangmen Communal Society, said that the UMG list will focus on issues such as youth employment, community economy, transport, healthcare, and welfare measures for children, senior citizens and those in vulnerable groups.
Moreover, Chan said that the list will focus on measures to help Macau make better use of resources in the rest of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) with the aim of promoting its economic development.
Each list can field between four and 14 candidates.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Mutual Help Grassroots list, Wong Wai Man, commonly dubbed Captain Macau, submitted 395 registered voters’ signatures endorsing the group’s candidacy in the upcoming direct legislative election to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission yesterday.
Wong heads the grassroots Macau Bar Benders Association.
The list ran in the legislature’s direct election in 2017, but failed to win a seat. Afterwards, the list intended to run in the direct legislative election four years ago, but failed to obtain the minimum number of 300 nominations.
Speaking to reporters at the Public Administration Building after submitting the signatures yesterday, Wong said that his list will primarily focus on the employment of local residents, which he said is a very important issue in Macau.
Wong said that the city’s suicide issue was partially attributed to the current predicament concerning local residents’ employment, adding that improving the employment of local residents could help reducing the number of suicides.
Wong said that his list would comprise six candidates.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Union for Development (UPD) list submitted 500 registered voters’ signatures endorsing the group’s candidacy in the upcoming direct legislative election earlier this week, according to a statement by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen in Cantonese) yesterday.
In the 2021 direct election, two candidates of the UPD list were elected – current lawmakers Ella Lei Cheng I and Leong Sun Iok. Both are senior Gung Luen board members.
The statement said that the list will comprise 12 candidates.
The statement said that the list will focus on issues such as the protection of workers’ rights and benefits, youth development, economic development, and public administration reform.
Today is the last day for groups to submit their direct and indirect election candidacy nomination signatures to the commission.
This file photo taken last year shows public buses at the bus stop outside the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo. – Photo: Tony Wong
